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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The King is returning to public duties after the positive effect of his cancer treatment. Charles has been receiving care as an outpatient since early February, and sources have said that despite the welcome news the King still has cancer and will continue to be treated for the undisclosed form of the disease. Charles and Camilla will visit a cancer treatment centre on Tuesday to meet medical specialists and patients.
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Nominations are open in the SNP leadership contest as senior figures have backed former deputy first minister John Swinney for the top job.
Good morning! I’m Rachel Amery, The Scotsman’s political correspondent, and I am taking over the live blog from Rachel Mackie.
I’m sitting in the Scottish Parliament right now waiting to hear if there are any more updates on who will replace Humza Yousaf as SNP leader and First Minister, and I’ll update you with the latest throughout the day.
So far we have two clear frontrunners for the next First Minister.
The SNP national executive opened up nominations at midnight last night and so far no one was officially declared themselves as a candidate - but they have until May 6 to do so.
First up is John Swinney. The veteran MSP is highly experienced, having previously been SNP leader and holding numerous senior cabinet positions under both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, including deputy first minister, education secretary, finance secretary and Covid-19 recovery secretary.
A number of senior figures within the SNP have already publicly said they will be backing Mr Swinney, including Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, former Westminster leader Ian Blackford, Health Secretary Neil Gray, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, Economy Secretary Màiri McAllan and the party’s longest-serving MP Pete Wishart.
He is seen as a safe pair of hands and as someone who can unite the party together.
The other option early doors is Kate Forbes.
She stood against Humza Yousaf last year to be First Minister and was the early favourite, but saw her lead plummet after saying she is against gay marriage and is anti-abortion.
However she is also highly experienced having been finance secretary under Nicola Sturgeon, and is very popular amongst SNP members - she got 48 per cent of the vote against Humza Yousaf, and listening to the radio this morning, the callers seem pretty unanimous that she is what they want.
Rebel SNP backbencher Fergus Ewing says he will support her and expects her to run, and his sister Annabelle Ewing has also given Ms Forbes her support.
You can read more on this from our Deputy Political Editor David Bol here: John Swinney emerges as frontrunner to replace Humza Yousaf as First Minister and SNP leader
There is a new poll out this morning from Ipsos which suggests voters feel the economy is the biggest issue facing Britain, followed by the NHS.
The survey covers the whole of the UK in the run-up to a general election.
In the poll 34 per cent said the economy was the most important issue, followed by 29 per cent saying the NHS, and 27 per cent saying housing.
However only three per cent said Europe and Brexit were the most important issues - this is the lowest level since September 2012.
Gideon Skinner, head of politics research at Ipsos, said: “Our new issues index shows that although the proportion citing the NHS as an important issue fell by six points in April, it remains a key concern, and is second among Britains’ overall.
“The economy and public services are likely to remain at the forefront of voters’ minds over the coming months, suggesting that they will be critical factors as we approach the election.
“The NHS was important in 2019 as well, but in other ways the next election is shaping up to be quite different.
“Despite the recent falls, inflation is still a bigger public worry than five years ago, especially for young people, while immigration is a concern for Conservatives and older people.
“But Brexit, which was one of the defining factors in Boris Johnson’s victory in 2019, is now at its lowest point on the public’s agenda for over 10 years.”
The Scottish Conservatives have withdrawn their motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf as First Minister.
Party leader Douglas Ross announced he was lodging the motion during FMQs, setting off the chain of events that eventually led to Mr Yousaf’s resignation yesterday.
Mr Ross says the motion has “achieved its goal”.
In a statement, Mr Ross said: “I’m delighted that the Scottish Conservative motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf achieved its purpose by forcing him to resign.
“While, on a personal level, I wish him well for the future, he was a disaster as First Minister and it’s in Scotland’s interests that he goes.
“The next goal for my party is to see off this feuding, failing SNP government and switch the focus away from their independence obsession and onto the public’s real priorities - such as growing the economy, and improving Scotland’s ailing public services.
“As it’s job done in terms of Humza Yousaf, there’s no longer any need for us to press ahead with a debate on our no-confidence motion.”
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross had been due to present his motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf as First Minister tomorrow afternoon.
He has now withdrawn that motion and says the 30-minute slot that has now been freed up should instead be used by the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC to give a statement on the Post Office Horizon scandal.
In a statement, Mr Ross said: “We have formally withdrawn it and requested that the parliamentary bureau instead allocate that time for a statement from the Lord Advocate on the Post Office scandal.
“It’s essential, for Scottish victims of this appalling miscarriage of justice, that the SNP government clear up the blatant contradictions in their position on Horizon.
“On the one hand, ministers are demanding that UK legislation be extended to Scotland, yet, on the other, the Lord Advocate is opposed to the blanket exonerations that lie at the heart of it.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says he will still be pressing ahead with his motion of no confidence in the entire Scottish Government.
This morning he said the principle of his motion still stands, and he believes the country is best served with the SNP out of government.
If his motion wins, all government ministers would be required to resign, which would dissolve parliament and could lead to a Scottish election - although that is unlikely to succeed now given Humza Yousaf’s resignation.
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?”
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