Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Humza Yousaf could never have imagined that his future as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister depended on Alex Salmond and his team.
When Mr Yousaf replaced Nicola Sturgeon a year ago, Mr Salmond’s power was weakened and the nationalist party he left had no MSPs at Holyrood.
But the SNP leader’s fate as prime minister now appears to rest on a decisive vote from his former leadership rival Ash Regan, who defected to Mr Salmond’s Alba Party in October.
A Holyrood source said the team was in a state of “panic” ahead of a vote of no confidence in him in the Scottish Parliament, due to be held next Wednesday or Thursday. I.
Yousaf insisted he had no intention of resigning and would “fight” the votes submitted by the opposition. He told reporters he was “intending to win a vote of no confidence.”
However, the SNP is currently divided over whether it should heed Mr Alba’s demands in exchange for Mr Regan’s vote, or attempt dialogue with the Scottish Greens, who appear determined to oust Mr Yousaf as prime minister. There is.
Mr Yousaf’s dramatic decision to abandon his coalition agreement with the Green Party and lead a minority government on Thursday quickly unraveled after furious former partners said they would support a motion of no confidence against him personally.
Scottish Labor raised the stakes even further on Friday when leader Anas Sarwar tabled an even stronger motion of no confidence in the Scottish Government itself.
The measure, backed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, would automatically force Mr Yousaf to resign as prime minister and give the SNP 28 days to find a successor or call a new Holyrood election. Become.
If the Greens vote against Mr Yousaf, the calculation at Holyrood is that Mr Regan, who had said it was “not a big loss” when Mr Yousaf left the SNP, will effectively receive the vote that will decide his future. It means to hold.
Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvey declined to say whether he would support Scottish Labour’s stronger and more binding motion to force Yousaf to stand down if the Greens were defeated.
Left-wing MSPs are unsure whether they will be able to vote on the motion against the Scottish Government, which they had been participating in until Thursday morning. But they remain furious with Mr Yousaf and want the SNP to find a new leader.
A Scottish Green Party official said: I There was “too much panic and confusion surrounding the SNP” that a decision could not yet be taken on Labour’s motion. They further added: “We seem to be in his final throes as prime minister. He’s being holed up below the surface. We want to see him go.”
SNP MPs and MSPs who supported his decision to quit the Green Party are wondering what Mr Yousaf should do next. Centrist traditionalists believe he needs to reach out to Mr. Reagan.
This was revealed by an SNP official. I: “It’s smart to talk to Alba. There’s no point in going back to the Greens. The whole point of what he did was to distance himself from the Green nonsense and get back to sensible policy.”
“If he survives [a no-confidence vote] He can still unite the party and continue working. What happens after the general election is another matter. ”
SNP MSP Michelle Thomson, a supporter of former leadership candidate Kate Forbes, told the BBC that Alba remained in a “very strong position on the no-confidence vote”.
But some on the SNP’s left insisted Mr Yousaf should ignore Alba and lobby the Greens. Marco Biagi, an influential SNP councilor and former minister, warned that Mr Alba “will not support Humza”.
He wrote in X that small nationalist parties had been “swallowed up in the anger of the Sturgeon era”. Biaji added: “For them, eliminating Humza is the same as launching an attack on her.”
Asked if he would work with Alba and Reagan, Yousaf told reporters he would write to all leaders and invite them to a meeting to “make the minority government work.”
However, in an olive branch to the Greens, the SNP leader appeared to express some regrets about the impact of the sudden abandonment of the coalition agreement.
“I hear their upset and anger, and I understand that. I didn’t mean to offend them obviously, and I never intended to,” Yousaf said. He told reporters during a visit to Dundee to announce the additional budget for the pound.
Mr Salmond’s party said it would like to hear from Mr Yousaf whether the SNP intends to enter into talks on concrete policies in the coming days.
I Mr Alba understands that he does not need a written agreement with the SNP but does need clear guarantees about the direction of travel under Mr Yousaf’s minority government.
Alba general secretary Chris McElheny said: “His job is at stake, so he needs his hand. We are in a good position and are at the center of the future of Humza Yousaf’s tenure as prime minister.”
Mr Regan wants Mr Yousaf to commit to a referendum on additional powers so that Holyrood has the right to demand Scottish independence negotiations with the UK government.
She also wants guarantees on women’s rights following a bitter exit over the blockage of SNP-Green plans to make it easier for people to change their legally recognized gender. The Alba MSP said an agreement to invest in the threatened Grangemouth refinery would also be a “show of good faith”.
Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvey urged the SNP to consider replacing Mr Yousaf, saying it was “pretty clear” that Mr Yousaf could not continue in the role.
Asked if there was anything he could say to Mr Yousaf to bring the Greens back on board, Mr Harvey said it would be “very difficult” given the breakdown in trust.
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar said Mr Yousaf’s position was “untenable” ahead of next week’s vote of no confidence. “The question now is not whether Humza Yousaf will resign as prime minister, but when he will resign.”
Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross has confirmed his party will support a motion of no confidence in the Labor-led SNP government. But he wants his own party’s motion against Yousaf to be heard first. “We have an opportunity to finish his term next week,” he said.
Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff Liz Lloyd told the BBC that Mr Yousaf had made a “miscalculation” by abruptly ending his coalition deal with the Greens rather than agreeing to draw a line under the deal. .
Another former senior adviser to Ms Sturgeon, Stuart Nicholson, also told the BBC: “Clearly it was not in the script how things would unfold.”