Yousaf states aims on first anniversary as First Minister
While he insists holding the top job in Scottish politics is the “greatest honour” of his life, Humza Yousaf has had a difficult first year as First Minister.
He became Scotland’s youngest ever First Minister, and the first from an ethnic minority background to hold the post, when he was sworn into office on March 29 2023.
That came after he was declared the winner of what had been a bruising contest to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, who announced in February last year she was stepping down as both first minister and SNP leader. At the time he pledged a “radical, ambitious and progressive policy agenda”.
Now a year into the post he insists his government has achieved “a lot” when it comes to reducing poverty and increasing foreign investment – although he also recognised “there’s still a lot more to do to deliver for the people of Scotland”. However, speaking earlier this week, Mr Yousaf said: “It continues to be the greatest honour of my life, being the First Minister of the country that I’ve been born and raised in, the country I love and the country I’m raising my children in.”
In a statement released yesterday, he also sought to make a pitch to voters, saying: “We all want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up, and the upcoming election is an opportunity for voters to protect Scotland’s values in the face of further Westminster cuts by voting SNP.
“The SNP is the only party that will always stand up for Scotland at Westminster.”
The First Minister has had some successes in post – with the Scottish Government managing to push through the council tax freeze he had promised, despite two local authorities having initially voted to increases charges.
That freeze however sparked its own controversy – with Mr Yousaf announcing it to the SNP conference in October without first consulting with local government leaders, leaving them enraged.
Speaking about Mr Yousaf ’s first year in charge, elections guru Professor Sir John Curtice told The Herald: “Fundamentally Humza’s problem is he’s a very nice man who’s intellectually able, but he doesn’t have presence.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar meanwhile said: “It’s been a year of Humza Yousaf, but it’s been 17 years of SNP failure. I think if you look at every area of public policy, it is weaker after 17 years of the SNP and weaker still after one year of Humza Yousaf.”