Humza Yousaf’s leadership has been thrown into crisis after Douglas Ross confirmed he will push a vote of no confidence in his leadership after the First Minister ended the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens.

Amid growing pressure from his backbench MSPs and MPs at Westminster, Mr Yousaf pre-empted a move from Green members to tear up the Bute House Agreement and removed Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater from his government this morning.

But in an ironic twist, the Greens may now hold the keys to Mr Yousaf’s future after Mr Ross told MSPs he will be lodging a vote of no confidence in the FM.

First Minister Humza Yousaf holds a press conference as he announces the SNP will withdraw from the Bute House Agreement. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

If the First Minister does face a vote of no-confidence, it would be up to him how he responds once the will of the parliament had been made clear. The First Minister’s official spokesperson would not be drawn on “hypothetical” scenarios.

If there is a 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, instead the Parliament has 28 days to choose a new FM. If it cannot do so, Parliament will be dissolved.

Labour and the LibDems have confirmed they will support any vote of no confidence in Mr Yousaf, meaning it could be down to the Greens whether or not the FM keeps his job. The Greens are quite openly upset at the First Minister, accusing him of letting down Scots and pandering to the right wing of the SNP.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, the Scottish Conservative leader confirmed the move, claiming Mr Yousaf “is a failed First Minister”.

Mr Ross said: “We said at the very beginning that this was a coalition of chaos and it has ended in absolute chaos. Humza Yousaf’s Government is in crisis, it has unravelled. He claims it’s a new beginning, but really it’s the beginning of the end.

“This weak First Minister jumped before the Green members pushed him.”

Pledging to push Mr Yousaf’s leadership to a vote, Mr Ross said: “I can confirm today that on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives, I am lodging a vote of no confidence in Humza Yousaf.

“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 branded the move “predictable”.

Speaking at FMQs, Mr Harvie asked Mr Yousaf “who he has pleased most today, Douglas Ross, Fergus Ewing or Alex Salmond”, adding “which of them does he think he can more rely on for a majority in parliament now”.

Scottish Greens MSPs are set to discuss whether they will support a motion of no confidence this afternoon in a crunch meeting that could signal the end of Mr Yousaf’s leadership.

Asked after FMQs if he will support a motion of no confidence in the First Minister, Mr Harvie said: "I think the First Ministers clearly needs to command a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

"The Bute House Agreement was a way of achieving that.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar suggested Holyrood should hold another election to pick a new government.

He said: “Scottish Labour has no confidence in Humza Yousaf, no confidence in this SNP government and we believe we need a general election now.

“The SNP has lost its way. I think it’s come to the end of the road and I think the people of Scotland should get that choice.

“We will support anything that states that Humza Yousaf does not have the confidence of this parliament and that the SNP government does not have the confidence of this parliament because I believe the Scottish people have no confidence in Humza Yousaf and no confidence in this SNP government.”

Scottish LibDems leader, Alex Cole-Hamilton, said there “are no circumstances in which the Liberal Democrat group” will offer Mr Yousaf its support in a confidence vote, pointing to the SNP’s record in government.

Asked if she would back the motion of no confidence, independent MSP Ash Regan, who quit the SNP, 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."

Will Humza Yousaf be forced out after ending Bute House Agreement?

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