SNP elects Humza Yousaf as new leader after chaotic race

Humza Yousaf won the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as head of the pro-independence Scottish National Party after a fractious battle that laid bare the scale of the challenge to unite the party and country.

He is expected to be formally appointed as first minister in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Tuesday, ending Sturgeon’s more than eight years at the helm of Scottish politics following her surprise resignation last month.

Yousaf is currently the health secretary and was widely seen as Sturgeon’s favored replacement, styling himself as the “continuity candidate” in the three-way battle for the leadership with Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and former minister Ash Regan.

The 37-year-old Yousaf, who will be the first person from an ethnic minority background to lead the Scottish government, faced criticism from opposition parties over the state of the health service on his watch, with a backlog of procedures and a jump in waiting times for ambulances and emergency care.

Sturgeon leaves the new leader with a series of challenges, including fixing the SNP’s patchy record on health and education, resolving a scandal over island ferry contracts and negotiating a police probe into party finances. Scotland’s economy is also lagging behind the UK as a whole.

Yousaf also is tasked with reinvigorating the campaign for independence after recent polls showed a dip in support for leaving the UK and the government in London refuses to allow another referendum.

His first hurdle, though, will be to reunite a party that once prided itself on its internal discipline and united front. During the race, Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, resigned as the SNP’s chief executive over misleading statements regarding a drop of about 30,000 in the party’s membership.

The six-week leadership contest also saw the openly hostile candidates criticize each other’s records in government. The fallout led to a drop in support for the SNP, albeit with it retaining a healthy lead against the Conservatives and Labour Party.

A survey by Survation showed backing for the party in national elections had fallen to its lowest level in five years. Appetite for Scottish independence also fell, to its lowest level since the autumn of 2018, the poll showed.

Yousaf will also need to overhaul the SNP’s strategy for securing a new vote on Scottish independence and find a way to engage a Conservative government in London that’s rebuffed all approaches by saying now is not the time. The country is still divided on the issue of independence with no clear roadmap on how to move the needle.

Sturgeon, 52, has said a vote on full autonomy is the nation’s democratic right after Scotland voted against Brexit, but the Supreme Court ruled late last year that calling a plebiscite unilaterally would be unlawful. Her fall-back plan was to turn the next UK general election into a de facto referendum, though Yousaf has said he is likely to shelve that.

There’s also the prospect of trouble within the Scottish government. A month before Sturgeon resigned, the UK blocked a controversial gender recognition bill passed by the Scottish Parliament after a feud over the protection of women’s rights. The SNP’s coalition partner, the Green Party, has suggested it will review its role should the next leader not seek to reverse that veto.

© 2023 Bloomberg