Yousaf ’s popularity plummets after launch of hate crime laws

HUMZA YOUSAF’S popularity with Scottish voters has plummeted following the introduction of his new hate crime laws, a poll has revealed.

Even mong SNP voters, just 29 per cent believe the First Minister is doing a bad job of running the country while 36 per cent think the opposite, the survey by Norstat showed.

It is the first such poll carried out since the introduction of the laws that Mr Yousaf steered through Holyrood as justice secretary.

The legislation, which came into force earlier this month. is widely seen to have been botched by the SNP government. A campaign urging the public to report instances of “hate” led to more than 7,000 complaints to police in the first week.

Fewer than 4 per cent of the reports were assessed as actual crimes.

Mr Yousaf now has an approval rating of -32, putting him just three points ahead of Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister.

It amounts to a 15 point drop for Mr Yousaf since the previous survey carried out in January.

Sir John Curtice, a leading pollster, told The Sunday Times that the results showed that the First Minister is “deeply and increasingly unpopular”. He added: “However, do the SNP have any option other than to make the best they can of Mr Yousaf ’s leadership?”

A recent seat-by-seat poll by Yougov predicted that Labour was on course to win 28 Scottish seats, compared with one in 2019, while the SNP’S tally would fall from 48 to 19.

Such a disastrous result, should it be replicated in the general election, would inevitably lead to calls for Mr Yousaf to stand down.

It is the lowest score the nationalists have scored in a Norstat poll since the independence referendum almost a decade ago.