Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf announces his resignation

Scottish independence Prime Minister Humza Yousaf resigned on Monday to avoid a double vote of no confidence in the local Parliament, where his party, the SNP, is in more difficulty than ever a year after the departure of Nicola Sturgeon. Overcoming current political divisions “can only be done by someone else at the helm,” he told a news conference from his official residence at Bute House in Edinburgh. He said he would remain in office until a successor is appointed.

Humza Yousaf, 39, was elected leader of the SNP in March 2023, after the surprise resignation of former Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon after nine years in power. The first Muslim leader at the head of a major political party in the United Kingdom, he embodied continuity with his predecessor and continued to champion the fight for Scottish independence despite the faltering popularity of the SNP.

His departure comes four days after he ended the government coalition between the Scottish National Party and the environmentalists, amid disagreement over the country’s environmental policy. Environmentalists had also opposed the government’s recent decision to suspend the prescription of puberty blockers to transgender young people. Without its Green allies, the SNP, although dominant in Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament, with 63 seats out of 129, found itself in the minority and was looking for new partners. Without success.

The Conservative and Labor oppositions had each tabled a motion of no confidence, one targeting Humza Yousaf personally, and the other targeting his entire government. Votes were due this week, and the Scottish Greens had indicated they would vote against the Prime Minister, leaving Humza Yousaf with little hope of saving his head. Parliament now has 28 days to find a new prime minister.

The youngest leader at the head of the SNP, Humza Yousaf, who was praised for his communication skills capable of uniting the party, will therefore not have succeeded in turning the page on Sturgeon. His thirteen months in power, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, were especially marked by his clashes with London, for example on a Scottish law on gender change, ultimately blocked by the British government, and on the position of the United Kingdom. United in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, or even on the authorization of a major oil project in the North Sea.

The past year has also been particularly difficult for the SNP, with an investigation into its finances, in which Nicola Sturgeon was questioned by the police, and her husband, Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, charged with embezzlement. A few months before the legislative elections, the party is also threatened by Labour, which is on the rise in Scotland, and which is also well placed to take power in the United Kingdom.

Its fight for Scottish self-determination has been at an impasse since the British Supreme Court ruled at the end of 2022 that only the British government could authorize a new referendum. The last vote, in 2014, was won by the “no” to independence by 55%.

In the British political system, the Scottish government has jurisdiction over many areas, such as education, health, justice and the environment, while the British government, based in London, retains notably defense and political powers. foreign.