Scotland’s ruling party chooses Humza Yousaf as the country’s next leader

Europe, News March 28, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

The 37-year-old son of a South Asian immigrant, Humza Yousaf, is set to become Scotland’s next first minister. Scotland’s governing, Scottish National Party, elected Yousaf as its new leader on March 27, 2023.

After being elected by a majority vote, Humza Yousaf would lead the Scottish National Party in the parliament and would replace Nicola Sturgeon as the country’s first minister. Last month, Sturgeon stepped down as the leader of the ruling party. She will now give her resignation to the King of Britain as the first minister of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government.

Humza Yousaf, a Scot of Pakistani heritage, would be the first person of color to serve as Scotland’s first minister. His election to the office comes only six months after Rishi Sunak became Britain’s first prime minister of Indian heritage. After receiving a majority vote from the Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Yousaf will be sworn in as Scotland’s first minister on March 29, 2023.

Yousaf ran for party leadership against Kate Forbes, a 32-year-old rising star of Scottish politics. Forbes has been serving as Scotland’s finance minister under the Sturgeons government. She lost many of her supporters recently after giving statements against same-sex marriage. Yousaf won 52.1% of the final vote and Kate Forbes received 47.9% of the votes.

*^{Humza Yousaf speaks as he is announced as the new Scottish National Party leader in Edinburgh, the Capital of Scotland, on March 27, 2023. (Image Credit: Reuters/Russell Cheyne)}*

In his victory speech at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Yousaf vowed to pursue SNP’s struggle for independence from Britain. “I will ensure our drive for independence is in fifth gear,” he said. “The people of Scotland need independence now more than ever.”

Scotland voted against independence by 55 percent to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, however, Britain’s exit from the European Union and the country’s dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic economic crisis has brought new support to SNP’s independence movement.

“My immediate priority will be to continue to protect every Scot as far as we possibly can from the harm inflicted by the cost-of-living crisis, to recover and reform our NHS and other vital public services, to support our well-being economy to improve the life chances of people right across this country,” Yousaf said in his victory speech at Edinburgh.

After being elected as the party leader, Yousaf posted on Twitter that he met with Scottish Greens co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie to reaffirm support for the Bute House Agreement.

Delighted to meet @scottishgreens co-leaders @patrickharvie & @lornaslater at St Andrew’s House this afternoon where we reaffirmed our support for the Bute House Agreement, which will maintain our pro-independence majority at 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @ScotParl & deliver for the people of Scotland. pic.twitter.com/ZtV5IrZMIg
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) March 27, 2023

Born in Glasgow, with a father from Pakistan and a mother from Kenya, Yousaf is viewed as an example of the inclusive and multi-ethnic Scotland that the SNP has promoted. He had been serving as Scotland’s health minister in the previous administration. During his campaign to run for the leader of the SNP, Yousaf argued that the party needs a better vision for Scotland’s independence movement. Yousaf now faces a new challenge to help his party win the UK’s general elections in the next 18 months.