Scots Tories Call Vote of No Confidence in Left Nationalist Leader Humza Yousaf After Green Defenestration

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf rejected the notion of fresh elections after he blew up his own ruling coalition on Thursday morning but a vote of no confidence has been called, which may well force the situation.

Scotland’s devolved government became a minority administration on Thursday after First Minister Humza Yousaf pushed his hard left Green party partners before they could jump — read more about that here — but despite his precarious position, he rejected fresh elections. By attempting to rule as a minority administration the situation was merely returning to the result of the 2021 election which produced no overall winner, he said.

The devolved administration, which exercises limited power as the government of Scotland, one of the United Kingdom’s four home nations in North Britain, is not due to face scheduled elections until 2026. Yousaf has not faced an election as leader, having been selected for the job after Nicola Sturgeon, who fought the 2021 Scottish elections, resigned under a cloud of controversy. 

But not holding the majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament leaves woke lawmaker Yousaf — who is the primary mover for Scotland’s world-infamous ‘hate speech’ law — dangerously vulnerable to challenges, and if he finds himself unable to pass legislation, the government would fall.

Accelerating towards this point, the Scottish Conservatives have called a vote of no confidence against the government, which would presumably bring the government down if it passed, triggering early elections.

Scot Conservatives leader Douglas Ross announced the move in the Scottish Parliament where he called Yousaf “unfit for office”. He said: “I am launching a vote of no confidence… he is a failed first minister, he has failed on the wrong priorities interests, he has governed in the SNP’s interest, and not in Scotland’s interest.”

Yousaf replied with characteristic disdain, saying — apparently without irony, given today started with the First Minister defenestrating his own political allies for narrow personal advantage — that the Scottish Tories were playing “political games”.

According to the BBC the vote wouldn’t be held until next week, given usual practice of two-days-notice for such challenges, which may give Yousaf time enough to engineer a survival strategy. The question for now is not just whether Yousaf’s opponents will vote against his leadership — they will — but if he can persuade his own allies to do so. Until this morning his government had the conditional support of the Scottish Green Party, a hard-left grouping which bitterly rejected the Cass report on transgender children and threatened to walk away from government over it, and which today cries out in pain after Yousaf dismissed the Bute House agreement that had defined their cooperation.

It is widely thought Yousaf pushed the Greens out of government before they were able to walk out on him, but nevertheless the party’s leadership has harsh words today for what they call his deceit. Co-leader Lorna Slater said this morning: “This is an act of political cowardice… by ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political co-operation, he can no longer be trusted.”

So fair to say the Greens can’t be relied on to prop up the government they’ve just been thrown out of, although it isn’t out the question that individuals might be persuaded to vote with Yousaf to avoid the possibility of losing their seats in a snap election, even if this would expose them to accusations of hypocrisy in turn.

There is also the question of Yousaf’s own party. While turkeys are not known to vote for Christmas in British politics — although there are notable exceptions — there are factions within the SNP. While the party governs as a reasonably far-left group, the last leadership challenge which saw Yousaf installed saw a serious challenge from the socially conservative wing led by Christian-faith Kate Forbes.

Forbes, who was purged from the government after Yousaf’s victory, could potentially be bribed with the promise of a government job in order for Yousaf to save his political skin.

As things stand, Yousaf’s SNP only needs one opposition MSP to lend their support to survive a vote of no confidence.

This story is developing, more follows