Scotland News Recap: Race starts to replace First Minister after Yousaf steps down | NHS workers 'frustrated' by political turmoil | Nominations open for SNP leader
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As we look to who will replace Humza Yousaf, we can take a look at how we replace Humza Yousaf.
The SNP national executive opened up nominations for SNP leader at midnight last night.
So far no one has officially declared themselves as a candidate, but they have until May 6 to do so.
To stand for SNP leader, each candidate must get at least 100 nominations from 20 different branches - both John Swinney and Kate Forbes, the two frontrunners, are likely to be able to do this comfortably.
The winner needs a simple majority to win.
After that, we move on to electing a First Minister.
Parliament must elect a new First Minister within 28 days of Humza Yousaf’s resignation - that clock has not yet started ticking, as he has only announced his intention to resign.
MSPs can put forward anyone to be a candidate for First Minister, as long as it is seconded by at least one other member and is submitted at least 30 minutes before the vote.
Given the SNP has by far the largest number of seats in Holyrood, it is almost inevitable that the SNP leader will then become First Minister.
It is not impossible, however - if all the opposition parties can unite behind another candidate, they could technically win the vote, but this is highly unlikely.
If we get to the end of the 28 day period and there is still no First Minister, parliament would be dissolved and then we would be looking at potentially having a Scottish election.
You can read more about what happens next here: Humza Yousaf resignation: How is a new First Minister and SNP leader appointed?
SNP MP and Scotsman columnist Stewart McDonald also backing John Swinney to be the next First Minister.
Posting on X, he said: “If John Swinney can be persuaded to run as leader he will have my full support.
“His gravitas and seriousness make him head and shoulders above our opponents.
“More importantly, he can lead a renewal of the big electoral coalition of voters we need.
“Less continuity, more security.”
Sources close to the First Minister say he was given a standing ovation and a round of applause when he entered the cabinet room this morning.
He told cabinet: “It has been the greatest honour of my life and I am grateful for the opportunity.”
Humza Yousaf travelled back to his home in Dundee yesterday after announcing his resignation at Bute House in Edinburgh.
Mr Yousaf is expected to lead first minister’s questions as usual on Thursday, and he has not yet spoken to the two favourites to replace him, John Swinney and Kate Forbes.
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie is reiterating calls for a Scottish election to be held.
This comes after the weekly Scottish A&E statistics, which are published every Tuesday, show almost one in three waited longer than the target time of four hours to be seen and then either admitted, transferred or discharged.
The statistics show almost 3,000 waited more than eight hours and 1,300 waited more than 12 hours.
Ms Baillie says appointing a new First Minister is not enough to fix the crisis engulfing Scotland’s NHS.
She said: “After 17 years of SNP mismanagement, health and social care in Scotland are at breaking point.
“Lives are being put on the line every week as patients are left stranded for hours on end in overstretched A&Es.
“Thousands of Scots are currently stuck in limbo waiting for desperately needed social care support, piling pressure on the rest of our health and social care system.
“Staff are working tirelessly to do right by patients but they are being failed by an absent SNP government.
“A string of SNP first ministers and health secretaries have failed to get a grip of this crisis - shuffling the deck once again won’t cut it.
“Scotland needs change and voters must get a say in their next First Minister.
“We need an election now so we can put an end to the dangerous SNP-made chaos engulfing our NHS.”
You can also read Jackie Baillie’s column in today’s Scotsman: Humza Yousaf is taking the fall for 17 years of SNP failure
Our Political Editor Alistair Grant and our Deputy Political Editor David Bol are currently manning the corridors of power to try and speak to John Swinney and Kate Forbes.
The SNP group normally holds its meeting in Holyrood on a Tuesday lunchtime - but it appears neither of the two favourites to replace Humza Yousaf as First Minister are attending today’s meeting.
We can update you if we hear any more on this.
An interesting thing to note about this week’s first minister’s questions.
Normally on the schedule both Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar are listed as “question to be taken in the chamber” as the official opposition - everyone else in the schedule has a pre-written question listed next to their name instead.
But this week’s schedule also sees Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater listed as “question to be taken in the chamber”.
That’s how quickly you can go from being in government to being listed as the official opposition in Scottish politics.
Have the Scottish Greens managed to calm their anger from last week?
Scottish Labour says it still plans to plough ahead with a vote of no confidence in the Scottish Government, despite Humza Yousaf agreeing to resign as First Minister.
Party leader Anas Sarwar says the vote needs to go ahead as there is still an SNP government in charge.
However Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay says Labour needs to stop their “game playing” and drop the vote.
She said: “Like the withdrawn Tory motion, the Labour one has clearly been overtaken by events.
“Pursuing it would achieve nothing, and would simply mean more parliamentary game playing.
Labour MSPs have spent the last few days saying the government needs to get back to running the country, so why do they want to waste the valuable time of the Scottish Parliament, staff and MSPs by carrying on with this charade when it has no chance of passing?”
The Scottish Greens say they are already getting “back to business” after being thrown out of government less than a week ago.
Gillian Mackay, the party’s business manager, said: “We bear no personal animosity to the First Minister or the SNP, and, as Scottish Greens, are already getting back to business.
“At the same time, we are proud to be welcoming hundreds of new Scottish Green members who care deeply about our climate, equalities and the fairer, greener society that we can build in an independent Scotland.”
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