Humza Yousaf likens Conservatives to 'Trumpian Republicans' but stops short of calling them a 'far right' party

The First Minister said the UK Tory party was ‘synonymous’ with Trumpian politics.

Humza Yousaf cast the Conservatives as Britain’s equivalent to the United States’ Republican party as he said the Tories had entered their “post-truth” era.

Criticising Rishi Sunak’s speech made to Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday, the First Minister accused the Prime Minister of trying to “stoke the culture wars” to gain political advantage.

The SNP leader also accused the party of a “sinister” approach to the truth, accusing the Tories of “simply making up propositions and policies” to oppose or scrap that simply did not exist.

SNP leader Humza Yousaf joins the SNP candidate for the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, Katy Loudon, in Cambuslang on Thursday. Picture: John Devlin

Mr Yousaf was earlier told to apologise three times to the Holyrood chamber for suggesting Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross was lying about the Scottish Government’s record around policing.

Speaking to journalists yesterday after First Minister’s Questions, Mr Yousaf said the Conservatives were “synonymous” with the “worst excesses” of Trumpian politics in the US and claimed they were slipping towards the approach taken by the Republican Party.

Asked whether he saw the Conservatives as becoming more like the Republicans, Mr Yousaf said: “Without a shadow of a doubt.”

He added: “Other people have made that comparison and I think it is an absolutely legitimate comparison to make.

First Minister Humza Yousaf at the Inveraray Parish Church during a visit to Inveraray as the Scottish Government's travelling cabinet programme continues.

"Even before the party conferences – and I’ve got many disagreements with Labour – they were simply making up propositions and policies that Labour had and saying that they were absolutely opposed to them.

"This is not a party that is serious about standing on its record. The Conservatives are not a party which is serious about ideas, radical ideas, bold change that this country most definitely requires.

"That’s why I’m really looking forward to a general election and the sooner it comes, the better because we’ll go toe-to-toe with them on the battle of ideas.”

Pressed on whether he believed Mr Sunak had simply become excitable ahead of an election year or whether there was something more sinister at play, the First Minister further attacked the Prime Minister.

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf during First Minster's Questions (FMQ's) at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh

"Absolutely [it is more sinister],” Mr Yousaf said. “More sinister than that, they have made it clear, abundantly clear through background briefing to the press that they will stoke the culture wars.

"They will look for divisive issues, not issues of policy or substance, but divisive issues – many of them fabricated issues that aren’t real, don’t affect people materially day in and day out – they will use those issues to inflame tensions, to create divisions and try to exploit those divisions, that’s unacceptable.”

Asked whether he would describe or view them as a far right political party, Mr Yousaf said he would “perhaps” not go that far.

He added: “What I would say certainly is that it is a party that is synonymous I think to the worst excesses that we see even in Trumpian politics in the US.”

The First Minister also hit out at comments Mr Sunak made on Wednesday in his speech to the Conservative conference that weighed in on debates about sex education and transgender rights.

Mr Sunak told Tory delegates: “We shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t, a man is a man and a woman is a woman.”

Mr Yousaf said: “I think from a Prime Minister, or frankly anybody that’s in a leadership position, we’ve got a real responsibility to try to make sure that we temper the debate, that we don’t add fuel to the fires of what is already a very difficult debate.

“The Conservatives have made it very clear that they’re going to stoke the culture wars in order for some perceived political advantage.

“The Prime Minister’s speech has so little in substance and so much in rhetoric.”

Earlier, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross praised Mr Sunak’s rhetoric in the conference address, pointing to the benefits Scotland will receive from the scrapping of the HS2 rail link north of Birmingham and subsequent spending on upgrades to the A75.

Writing in the Scottish Daily Mail, Mr Ross said: “Rishi Sunak’s speech to conference showed bold ambition, a willingness to be radical and to take on vested interests.

“It’s clear that he relishes the prospect of the next election, believes that the Conservatives have a strong programme to offer, and is not afraid to make decisive long-term choices that will create a better future.”

He drew comparisons between Mr Sunak and Mr Yousaf, who he claimed is “still peddling the continuity policies that have failed Scotland” since the SNP took power and pushing independence.

The Scottish Tories, Mr Ross added, was the “only party providing robust opposition” to the SNP.

Mr Sunak is meanwhile expected to face a Commons showdown with MPs over the cancellation of HS2’s northern leg, as he refused to apologise yesterday for his decision.

The Prime Minister defied senior Tories and business leaders to scrap HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, saying “the facts have changed” and the cost of the high-speed rail scheme had “more than doubled”.

MPs and peers will be expected to have a vote to approve the changes after the Department for Transport’s permanent secretary, Dame Bernadette Kelly, said the decision to cancel parts of HS2 “will require primary legislation”.