On Monday, Humza Yousaf has become Scotland’s new leader, the youngest and first from an ethnic background, charged with reviving a faltering independence movement after Nicola Sturgeon’s long tenure.
Yousaf has become the first ethnic minority leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), seeing off Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and former community safety minister Ash Regan.
Yousaf arose victoriously with 52 percent of Scottish National Party (SNP) members’ preferentially ranked votes, following a divisive leadership contest initiated by Sturgeon’s surprise resignation announcement last month.
He is set to be sworn in as the first minister on Wednesday, becoming the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government and the first Muslim to lead a major UK party. He is also Scotland’s youngest leader, taking the helm months after UK’s Rishi Sunak became the youngest UK prime minister in current times when he entered Downing Street aged 42.
Yousuf, 37, pledged to continue following the SNP’s central policy — independence for Scotland — which Sturgeon has supported since the party lost a 2014 referendum on the issue by 10 points.
The people of Scotland need independence now, more than ever before, and we will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland.”
Yousaf said in his victory speech.
He added his “immediate priority” was guarding Scots against Britain’s cost-of-living situation and reforming public services. He insisted that he will aim to lead Scotland and the interests of all of our citizens, whatever your political allegiance.
Yousaf, the former health minister in Sturgeon’s cabinet, barely beat finance minister Kate Forbes to become SNP leader once party voters’ second preferences had been added to their counts.
Ash Regan, a former minister in the cabinet, finished a distant third. Polling shows that around 45 percent of Scots are presently in favor of Scotland leaving the United Kingdom after 55 percent of Scots denied such a movement in a 2014 vote.
During campaigning, Yousaf said too much time had been spent indicating the UK government in London’s failures and not enough on creating a concept for an independent Scotland. He has pledged a civic movement to drive the campaign. He has the challenge to win over the all-over Scottish electorate, with a UK general election expected within the next 18 months.
According to Ipsos polling, Yousaf enjoyed a promising opinion among just 22 percent of the electorate, trailing Forbes at 27 percent. Forbes, who won 48 percent of the votes in the competition, came under the spotlight for her conventional thoughts as a member of the Free Church of Scotland, which conflicts with same-sex marriage and abortion.
But Yousaf, who has close relations with Sturgeon, also encountered scrutiny and criticism over his record in successive roles in the Scottish government. Sturgeon has served as first minister since November 2014 but said last month that she felt unable to provide “every ounce of energy” to the job.
In her final months in office, she encountered rage about a new law permitting anyone over 16 to transform their gender without a medical diagnosis. The law would have permitted a transgender woman who was sentenced to rape before she began transitioning to serve a prison sentence in a women-only facility. As the controversy raged, the UK government used an unusual ban to block the ruling.
The UK Supreme Court last year also ruled that the Scottish government could not hold a new referendum on sovereignty without London’s approval.
Several polls have since shown weakening widespread support for breaking away. But Sturgeon said she has “every confidence” that her successor will lead Scotland to independence.
The devolved government in Edinburgh was created in 1999 through devolution reforms created by the UK government in London. The SNP has since appeared as the dominant force in Scottish politics, pulling support away from the Labour party in particular.
But Labor is hoping Sturgeon’s exit could provide a way for a possible response north of the English border that would pave the way to defeat the Conservatives in the next UK election.
