Humza Yousaf elected to be Scotland’s sixth first minister
Humza Yousaf has been elected as SNP leader and Scotland’s sixth first minister.
Mr Yousaf defeated Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in a leadership contest, before being formally elected at Holyrood on Tuesday March 28.
On Monday, it was announced he had received 52 per cent of SNP membership votes in the second round after Ms Regan was eliminated first, receiving 26,032 votes against Ms Forbes’ 23,890 votes.
Mr Yousaf was confirmed as the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government after the opposition leaders – Alex-Cole Hamilton of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Douglas Ross of the Scottish Conservatives and Anas
Sarwar of Scottish Labour – stood against him on Tuesday.
Mr Yousaf was Scotland’s health secretary under former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and was widely assumed to be her preferred successor during a contest that exposed SNP divisions.
The 37-year-old, who is the youngest ever first minister, said it was “the greatest honFour our and privilege” of his life and that independence would be won “on the doorsteps”, pledging to kickstart a grassroots campaign.
He added: “Over the last five weeks, we may have been competitors or supporters of different candidates. We are no longer team Humza, or team Ash, or team Kate, we are one team.”
Ms Forbes said: “Whatever the robust disagreements or frank exchanges of the last few weeks, I am confident we will unite behind Humza as our new party leader in the shared and common objective of independence.”
Ms Regan said: “It was a lively contest, I wish him well and I back him as he leads our party – and I would encourage everyone to get behind Team SNP.”
Reacting to the news, South Kintyre councillor John Armour (SNP) said: “I congratulate Humza Yousaf on his election as first minister.
“I wish him well in taking forward positive policies for Scotland, helping the country recover from the issues after the pandemic and the folly of Brexit, and moving the country closer to independence.”
Ward colleague Councillor Donald Kelly (independent) said he hopes the new first minister will prioritise issues important to the people of South Kintyre: “As a former transport minister who has been involved in and is aware of the poor connectivity in rural areas such as Argyll and Bute, I would hope he would honour his commitment to fast track a permanent solution for the Rest and be Thankful and to improving ferry links between Campbeltown and the Scottish Central Belt.”
Councillor Tommy Macpherson (Scottish Conservatives), also of the South Kintyre ward, said: “The ‘continuity candidate’ has declared his priority is dealing with the problems facing NHS Scotland.
“He was, up until last week, presiding over the worst A&E waiting times on record, as Scotland’s cabinet secretary for health and social care.
“He has called the British Government ‘foreign’ and has previously declared to be a republican.
“He has also stated in becoming first minister, he is the ‘luckiest man in the world’. Well, for most Scots, continuity won’t cut it. In a very short time, we likely will find out just how very unlucky for us.”