SNP implosion is a tartan gift for Keir

Labour profits as nationalist cause ‘set back a generation’

THE SNP was plunged into turmoil yesterday after Humza Yousaf dramatically quit as First Minister – helping to clear Sir Keir Starmer’s path to No 10.

Mr Yousaf announced he would resign four days after he tore up the power-sharing agreement he had with the Scottish Greens.

He admitted he ‘clearly underestimated’ the level of ‘ hurt and upset I caused Green colleagues’.

His resignation and the party’s other difficulties are likely to give Labour a major boost in the forthcoming general election – and could set the Scottish independence cause back a generation.

After a weekend of reflection, Mr Yousaf said: ‘I’ve concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm.’

It is exactly 13 months since he was sworn in as Scottish First Minister. He said, however, that he would stay on until a successor was found. Whoever is chosen to replace him will be the seventh person to hold the post since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999 – as well as being the second person in just over a year to have the top job.

Mr Yousaf has had a tricky tenure as SNP leader since he took over when Nicola Sturgeon stepped down last year. Just days later Ms Sturgeon’s husband – former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – was arrested by police investigating the whereabouts of £600,000 of donations. He was charged earlier this month in connection with the alleged embezzlement of funds.

Labour has just two Scottish MPs, down from 56 under Tony Blair in 1997. Securing more Scottish seats would make Sir Keir’s path to victory at Westminster far easier.

Labour peer and former Scotland minister Lord Foulkes of Cumnock said the SNP’s leadership chaos would mean it losing seats to Labour. ‘There’s a tipping point that if we go one or two points further, not very many, we could win many, many more seats. It’s very good from the Westminster election point of view.’

A YouGov survey, carried out over the weekend, found Labour holds a narrow lead over the SNP in Westminster voting intentions by 34 per cent to 33 per cent.

Lord Foulkes said that independence was now ‘on the backburner’ for ‘a generation at least’ adding: ‘Even the SNP people are not talking about it in the foreseeable future.’

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross urged the next First Minister to ‘ abandon the nationalist obsession with independence and focus solely on Scotland’s top priorities, such as creating jobs and improving our ailing public services’.

But polling guru Sir John Curtice warned that the opposition parties have been ‘too successful’ by forcing Mr Yousaf out of office. ‘The problem with bringing down a weak leader is that you then create the possibility that what replaces him is better than what was there before,’ he added.

Mr Yousaf had terminated the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens amid a row over policies. He was due to face two no confidence votes – one in him as First Minister, and another in the Scottish government – this week.

Unable to find support from an opposition party, he appealed to opposition leaders at Holyrood to ‘collaborate’ with an SNP minority administration under a new leader.

NO MATTER how many contortions he performed during his unedifying bid to cling on to power, humza Yousaf’s resignation as Scotland’s First Minister was inevitable.

A proponent of the SNP’s ugly tactic of demonising political opponents, his belated attempt to build bridges at holyrood to avoid losing a vote of no confidence unsurprisingly failed.

Rather than suffer defeat, Mr Yousaf quit with a characteristically charmless speech. But one thing he said couldn’t be faulted. This was the ‘right decision’ for Scotland. It is for the United Kingdom, too.

Not only does it signal the beginning of the end for the SNP’s 17 years of misrule, it also dashes any hopes of Scottish separatism for a generation.

If the Nationalists can’t even run a devolved government competently, how could they be trusted with an independent country?

This time, the SNP cannot lay the blame for their troubles on the evil Tories or Westminster establishment. The ghastly soap opera is entirely of their own making.

Ordinary Scots want fairer taxes, a decent education for their children and a functioning NhS to look after their health.

But under the woke authoritarianism of the SNP and their ex- coalition partners, the Scottish Greens, they got divisive trans policies, unattainable and unaffordable climate change goals and absurd hate laws. They deserve less clueless leadership.

With the SNP unravelling, Labour has more chance of winning seats in Scotland in the general election. That would make Sir Keir Starmer’s path to No10 easier.

This is troubling because he is more likely to hand new powers to Scotland – worsening the disastrous experiment with devolution.

And when it comes to the lunacies of wokery, you could barely fit a cigarette paper between the views of Starmer and the SNP.