HUMZA DID DODGE GAY MARRIAGE VOTE CLAIMS SALMOND
HUMZA Yousaf asked to skip a key vote on gay marriage because of religious pressure, according to explosive allegations by Alex Salmond.
The leadership frontrunner faced more claims about his reason for failing to take part in the final vote on the Bill which in 2014 legalised same-sex marriage.
Former First Minister Mr Salmond said his ‘assumption’ was that Mr Yousaf, who is a Muslim, missed the parliamentary vote because of ‘religious pressure’.
His comments came after former SNP minister Alex Neil last week told the Mail that Mr Yousaf had asked for permission to miss the
‘A lot of religions were canvassing’
crucial vote because he ‘was under so much pressure from the mosque’.
Mr Yousaf last night said he had ‘never denied there was pressure on me regarding the vote’.
His leadership rival Kate Forbes, a devout Christian, has come under sustained pressure from within the SNP after she revealed last week that she would have voted against the legalisation of same-sex marriage if she had been an MSP at the time.
Appearing on the Beth Rigby Interviews programme on Sky News, Mr Salmond said: ‘My memory is that I was contacted ten days or so before the vote, when the vote (date) was known, and told that Humza was arranging a ministerial appointment.
‘I’ve discussed it with people who were with me at the time, so I know their memory is the same as mine.’
Asked the reason for Mr Yousaf skipping the vote, he said: ‘I didn’t discuss the thing at great length.
‘The assumption was it was pressure... a lot of religions were canvassing... but it was a free vote, people could do what they liked.’
Miss Rigby asked the former SNP leader to clarify if he believed Mr Yousaf missed the vote ‘because of religious pressure’, and Mr Salmond replied: ‘That’s my recollection, yep.’
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: ‘Only those involved will know which of these conflicting accounts is true.
‘But what this dispute demonstrates is the huge and bitter divisions that exist at the heart of the SNP and the wider nationalist movement. It’s clear that because Humza Yousaf is Nicola Sturgeon’s preferred choice as successor, her nemesis Alex Salmond – and his acolytes who remain within the SNP – are out to stop the Health Secretary.
‘While the SNP leadership election descends into a Nationalist civil war, the only area of agreement between the feuding camps is their shared independence obsession.’
Asked this week whether she felt that Mr Yousaf had been honest about the issue, Miss Forbes said: ‘I think it is for every candidate to answer questions honestly and openly. I have done so.’
Mr Yousaf has repeatedly said that, while Islam opposes gay marriage, he does not use his faith as the basis for legislating. But Mr Neil said last week: ‘If he was so devoted to the principle of equal marriage why did he deliberately manoeuvre it so that he skipped the vote and wasn’t there and was dishonest about his reasons why?
‘That’s not leadership, that’s absolute gutlessness, quite frankly.’
Responding to Mr Salmond’s claims in a statement last night, Mr Yousaf said: ‘As I have said throughout this campaign, I was proud to vote in favour of the Equal Marriage Bill in Scotland’s parliament. I have never denied there was pressure on me regarding this vote, but I was vocal about my support for marriage equality at the time and I remain totally unequivocal on that position.
‘As your SNP First Minister, and as someone from a minority background myself, I will champion, defend and celebrate equal rights for all to the hilt.’
Nationalist MSP Joe FitzPatrick, who is backing Mr Yousaf’s leadership campaign, said: ‘I was the government’s Minister for Parliamentary Business at the time [of the vote on gay marriage].
‘All arrangements for ministers being handed permission to conduct vital government business during votes in parliament were handled and approved by myself.
‘While other ministers did raise concerns about the Bill at the time, Humza wasn’t one of them.
‘Humza gave his full backing to the Bill in its first vote through parliament and he continues to be a staunch ally of the LGBTQ+ community to this day and beyond.’
‘Huge and bitter divisions’