Humza Yousaf has been elected by Scottish National Party (SNP) activists as the new leader, replacing Nicola Sturgeon, who just over a month ago made a surprise announcement of her resignation as Scotland’s chief minister.
Yousaf, who had held the Health portfolio in Sturgeon’s cabinet, will have to wait until Tuesday to be named Scotland’s chief minister after a vote at Holyrood, a mere formality as he has large majorities.
The new leader of the Scottish nationalists, the fifth since the party was founded in 1979, has won in the second round and with 52 percent of the vote to Finance Minister Kate Forbes. Earlier, both had left former Community Safety Minister Ash Regan with no chance.
After learning the result, Yousaf has called for unity to his colleagues, aware of the deep differences that exist within the SNP, as the three candidates evidenced during the six weeks that lasted the small campaign to replace Sturgeon. »We will be the generation that wins Scottish independence,» she has said.
»Elections to choose a leader, by their very nature, can be painful. However, in the SNP we are a family. For the last five weeks we may have been competitors (…) We are no longer team Humza, we are no longer team Ash, we are no longer team Kate, we are one team. We will be the team, we will be the generation that brings independence to Scotland,» he stressed.
»If I am elected as your chief minister in the Parliament, know that I will be the chief minister for the whole of Scotland,» said Yousaf, who promised to work »in the interest of all» citizens beyond ideologies.
Yousaf, 37, is the first Muslim to head one of the main political parties in the United Kingdom and one of the three most experienced candidates, as he has been part of the Scottish cabinet since 2012, being, for example, Minister of Transport or Justice.
On the other hand, he has received congratulations from Sturgeon, who after recognizing the other two candidates for having been up to the »challenge» that these primaries have been, has wished »much success» to Yousaf, whom she has defined as »an outstanding leader». »I couldn’t be prouder that he succeeded me,» she said.
While Sturgeon has been careful not to express any public preference for any of the three candidates, Yousaf is seen as her favorite and thus a sort of continuity bet, according to media both inside and outside Scotland.
He has been the only one of the three candidates who has assured that he will try to overturn in court London’s blockade of the government’s ‘trans law’, a setback that for some ended up triggering Sturgeon’s resignation.
Instead, he has distanced himself from Sturgeon’s plan to present the upcoming elections as a sort of de facto independence referendum and has expressed that his intention is to continue working to achieve broad majorities, because »it is not good enough» to take this step if support for self-determination moves only between 50 and 51 percent.
When London has been asked about Yousaf’s interest in reviving a new independence process, he has replied that they have not received a formal request about it and that they are focused on the »issues that matter».
»I think they know our well-established position (…) Reducing inflation, dealing with the cost of living, addressing arrears, those are the issues that matter to the public. That’s what the government is going to concentrate on,» he said from Downing Street.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
