Humza Yousaf to campaign in Margaret Ferrier’s constituency ahead of possible by-election

First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he will set out his “positive, ambitious and radical vision” as he campaigns in an area where the SNP could soon face a by-election.

The SNP leader will be in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency on Saturday, where there is the potential for a recall petition to be used against sitting MP Margaret Ferrier.

Mr Yousaf, who has already said it will take “hard work” for the SNP to win a by-election in the seat, is heading to the area for his party’s first national day of action for 2023.

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It comes after he promised he would be “first activist” in the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as both SNP leader and Scottish First Minister.

First Minister Humza YousafFirst Minister Humza Yousaf
First Minister Humza Yousaf

A by-election would come at a difficult time for the SNP, which has just gone through a divisive leadership contest. It was only after Mr Yousaf won that he discovered the party’s auditors had quit months ago, and have yet to be replaced.

Meanwhile a Police Scotland investigation into the party’s finances saw the home Ms Sturgeon shares with former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell searched, with Mr Murrell being arrested and questioned by police before being released without charge.

However Mr Yousaf stressed the “progressive record” of the SNP had helped the party “gain the trust of voters at election after election”.

Speaking ahead of his visit, the First Minister added: “Only the SNP will ensure Scotland’s priorities are put first and offer a positive, ambitious and radical vision for their future as an independent country.

“That’s the message I’ll be sharing with voters in Rutherglen and Hamilton West today.

“During the leadership campaign, I vowed, as the grassroots candidate, to step-up campaigning and push forward our levels of activism to the highs of 2014.

“With Scotland’s Parliament under attack from a Westminster powergrab, and a Tory cost-of-living crisis that’s hammering families across Scotland, the SNP will be taking its progressive vision for a fairer Scotland to doorsteps across the country today.”

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The SNP leader insisted Scotland “deserves better” than a choice between Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer.

He added: “While the Brexit-loving Labour and Tories fight for the keys to Number 10, Scots are being left behind by the broken Westminster system.

People across Scotland deserve more than they’re getting from the Westminster establishment, which is refusing to take any real action to tackle the devastating impacts of Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis harming household incomes in every community.”

Ms Ferrier won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat for the SNP in 2019 – but was later found to have damaged the reputation of the Commons and placed people at risk by taking part in a debate and travelling by train while suffering from Covid-19.

If she is barred from the Commons for 10 days or more, that could trigger a recall petition, which would result in a by-election in the constituency – although 10 per cent of voters there would need to support this for it to go ahead.

Parliament is still to determine her punishment, but the Commons Standards Committee has already recommended the MP – who now sits as an independent – should be suspended for 30 days.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “Voters won’t forget Margaret Ferrier’s reckless rule-breaking, no matter how many SNP campervans are dispatched to Rutherglen.

“As Humza Yousaf desperately scrambles to hold his crumbling party together, Scottish Labour is offering real change.

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“The SNP is chaotic and divided – the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West deserve better.”

In a visit to Crookston Castle Early Years Centre in Glasgow on Thursday, Mr Yousaf said it “would have been better if we had been informed” about the resignation of the party’s auditors.

But looking to the future, he said: “I’ve got a job to do which is not so much looking back over the past, but looking at what needs done now and into the future to make sure we’re on firm footing when it comes to our auditors and getting replacement auditors in as soon as possible.”

Mr Yousaf claimed the public are not overly concerned about the issues within the SNP.

Asked whether the situation could hurt his party electorally in future, he said: “I think it’s a fair question, but I also know that in people’s living rooms, people in their everyday lives are probably more concerned about the cost-of-living crisis.

“They’re more concerned about the economy and the businesses that they run or they work for.

“That’s the issues I want to get back to talking about.”

When Parliament returns from recess next week, Mr Yousaf said he hopes the Scottish Government will be able to focus on “talking about the priorities” of Scots.

“I’ve genuinely been speaking to… a number of members of the public and they tend to raise with me, not issues around membership numbers or auditors, but actually issues around their heating bills or the fact that they want to see our NHS recover.

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“These are all issues that I think affect people more so than internal navel-gazing party issues.”

Mr Lamont, the Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, urged the SNP to “get themselves sorted out”.

He said: “It’s very clear the SNP Government is now completely distracted by everything that is being reported.

“I know my constituents just want them to focus on the day-to-day job of running the NHS, running our schools well."

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