Humza Yousaf’s future on knife edge as Scottish Greens to back motion of no confidence in SNP leader

The First Minister faces a knife-edge confidence vote after ditching the Greens from government

Humza Yousaf’s future is balanced on a knife edge after a huge miscalculation in ending the Bute House Agreement left his leadership dependent on the support of a former SNP MSP who lost out in the party leadership contest to him last year.

The First Minister is facing a vote of no confidence, tabled by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, after Mr Yousaf tore up the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens.

But in an ironic twist, the Greens confirmed they would join Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats in backing the vote of no confidence. That means the fate of Mr Yousaf rests with Alba party MSP Ash Regan, a former SNP minister who quit the party in October last year after running unsuccessfully against the First Minister in last year’s party leadership contest.

Humza Yousaf has been left needing the support of Alba's Ash Regan after the Greens vowed to vote against him

According to Alba leader and former first minister Alex Salmond, Mr Regan’s support, which will effectively keep the First Minister in office, is dependent on him vowing to progress independence, “what guarantees he can give her about protections for women and girls” and “how he plans to restore competence into the Scottish Government”.

If the First Minister does lose the vote, he is not required to quit and it would be up to him how he responds once the will of the Parliament had been made clear. However, losing the vote would likely leave Mr Yousaf’s position untenable. Asked if he would resign, the First Minister’s official spokesperson would not be drawn on “hypothetical” scenarios.

The First Minister told co-leaders of the Greens, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, their ministerial jobs had been terminated immediately and the co-operation agreement with their party ripped up.

First Minister Humza Yousaf speaks during a press conference at Bute House, Edinburgh after terminating the Bute House agreement with immediate effect. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/PA Wire

Mr Yousaf started the day by holding a rushed press conference at Bute House after he informed his Cabinet of his decision to remove the Greens from his Government.

The First Minister said the co-operation agreement had “undoubtedly brought a number of successes”, but the balance had shifted.

He said: “It is no longer guaranteeing a stable arrangement in Parliament, the events of recent days have made that clear, and therefore, after careful consideration, I believe that going forward it is in the best interest of the people of Scotland to pursue a different arrangement.

“That is why, following a discussion with my Cabinet this morning, I have formally notified Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater that I am terminating the Bute House Agreement with immediate effect.”

Alba MSP Ash Regan (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty)

He said the day marked a “new beginning for this SNP Government”.

Mr Yousaf said he had been thinking about the decision “for quite some time”. However, in recent days he had repeatedly defended the deal in public, insisting he hoped it would continue.

Asked whether his U-turn showed he was “weak and hopeless”, Mr Yousaf said: “Quite the opposite – it shows leadership. As leader of the Government, leader of the party that elected me, I’ve got to make sure I do what’s in the best interests of Scotland.”

The First Minister said he was not pushed into the decision, adding: “It’s my judgement call to decide how we operate as a government.” But the Greens reacted with fury to Mr Yousaf’s decision to remove them from office.

Patrick Harvie (Photo: Lisa Ferguson)

Speaking at Holyrood, Mr Harvie accused the First Minister of moving to “capitulate to the most reactionary, backward-looking forces” within his party.

The Glasgow MSP warned “a raft of progressive policies” were set to be watered down with the Greens now out of government, accusing Mr Yousaf of “shoring up support from his conservative wing” of the SNP.

Ms Slater accused the First Minister of "an act of political cowardice”, claiming the SNP were “selling out future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country”. She added: "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.”

At First Minister’s Questions, Mr Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, confirmed he was lodging the motion of no confidence in Mr Yousaf.

He said: “He is a failed First Minister, he is focused on the wrong priorities for Scotland. He [runs a] government in the SNP’s interests and not in Scotland’s interests. He is unfit for office. Shouldn’t this be the end of the road for this weak First Minister?”

In response, Mr Yousaf said the move by the Tories was “predictable”.

Labour leader Anas Sarwar told journalists his party would “support anything that states that Humza Yousaf does not have the confidence of this Parliament”, while Lib Dems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton insisted there “are no circumstances” in which his party would offer Mr Yousaf its support and confidence.

If there is a further vote of no-confidence in the Scottish Government, both the First Minister and his team of ministers are required to resign. In that case, the Parliament is not automatically dissolved, but has 28 days to choose a new first minister. If it cannot do so, Parliament will be dissolved.

UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer branded the situation “chaotic”.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Now you've got a Westminster government that is characterised by chaos, a Scottish Government that is characterised by chaos. And, you know, in the meantime, there's despair by people of Scotland, about the delivery, their public services, the performance of the Scottish Government.

"And in the end, there's only one way out of two chaotic governments, one in Westminster, one is Scotland. That's a general election, turn the page and usher in a fresh start.”

Green MSPs met following FMQs and unanimously decided they would back the vote of no confidence in the First Minister.

Mr Harvie said: “I don’t think it’s realistic for him [the FM] to imagine now that he can rely on Green votes in the chamber. When we discussed the issue of confidence on Humza Yousaf, our group was of one mind – nobody was arguing in favour of a vote of confidence.”

Ms Slater said her party had “no confidence in a progressive Government” in Scotland and would back the Tory motion to unseat Mr Yousaf.

She said: “We supported Humza Yousaf to be First Minister last year on the basis of a pro-independence majority government, where we would be working together to deliver rent controls, to deliver real change on climate, nature, new protections for tenants.

“Today the First Minister decided to tear up that agreement, to end the Bute House Agreement, and so we no longer have confidence in a progressive government in Scotland doing the right thing for climate and nature. So, the Scottish Green MSPs will not be supporting Humza Yousaf in a vote of no confidence.”

Asked if she would back the motion of no confidence, Ms Regan, said: "I'll be writing to Humza today, and I'll be asking him about independence, how he's going to defend women's rights, and how he's going to bring competence back to government. So it will entirely depend on the reply that I get from him."