epa10545420 The new leader of the Scottish National Party and former Health Secretary Humza Yousaf speaks after he is announced at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland, Britain 27 March 2023. The result follows a five-week contest after the former leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stood down. There will be a vote in Holyrood parliament on 28 March to select the next first minister. EPA/ROBERT PERRY Photograph: Robert Perry/EPA
Good morning. After a brutal and destabilising SNP leadership contest, Humza Yousaf is the party’s new leader. Today he should be confirmed as the first Scottish first minister from an ethnic minority, and the first Muslim to lead a major British political party.
In what turned out to be a very tight race, Yousaf beat his rival Kate Forbes by 52% to 48% after the votes of third-placed Ash Regan were redistributed. And while he promised that “we will be the team, we will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland”, the work ahead of him is considerable: independence looks further away than it did when Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation, and the fractures within the party have been brought into sharp relief. For the first time in a long time, the SNP’s ability to maintain its status as the dominant force in Scottish politics looks in serious doubt.
