Swinney emerges as frontrunner to become SNP leader after Yousaf resignation

That’s all from the blog today – thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of what happened:

• Humza Yousaf announced his resignation as Scotland’s First Minister ahead of forthcoming confidence votes.
• Mr Yousaf had been battling for his political survival after terminating the powersharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens on Thursday.
• He was facing a vote of no confidence, tabled by the Scottish Conservatives, while Scottish Labour had tabled one of no confidence in the Scottish Government as a whole, with both expected to take place this week.
• “I am not willing to trade in my values or principles or do deals with whomever simply for retaining power,” he said.
• Just after announcing his resignation, Mr Yousaf said he “could never have dreamt that one day I would have the privilege of leading my country”, noting that as a boy, people of minority ethnicities were not seen in senior governmental roles.

• He also admitted “politics can be a brutal business” and became emotional as he paid tribute to his family. Appearing to fight back tears, he said: “I am in absolute debt to my wonderful wife, my beautiful children and my wider family for putting up with me over the years. I’m afraid you will be seeing a lot more of me from now.”
• The Scottish Greens said Mr Yousaf’s resignation as First Minister was the “right” decision.
• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said there must be a Scottish election following Mr Yousaf’s resignation. He also refused to say whether or not his party would withdraw its no confidence motion in Mr Yousaf’s Government.
• Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross said that Mr Yousaf failed as first minister “just like he failed as transport secretary, justice secretary and health secretary”.
• Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Scotland “needs a new government”.
• Nicola Sturgeon praised the “grace, dignity and integrity” of Mr Yousaf during his time as First Minister.

• A series of senior figures within the SNP called on John Swinney, who led the party between 2000 and 2004, to stand for the leadership once more.
• Long-serving MP Pete Wishart, former Westminster leader Ian Blackford, current Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and fellow MP Alyn Smith, all called on him to run.
• Scottish Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, who had been suggested by some as a possible successor to Mr Yousaf, said Mr Swinney was “the best choice” to be the next first minister and SNP leader.
• Mr Swinney said he is giving “very careful consideration” to the possibility of standing, stating: “It is likely I will have more to say about that in the days to come.”

• By standing aside, Ms Gilruth appeared to clear the way for a likely leadership contest between Mr Swinney and former Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes, who lost to Mr Yousaf in the previous race.
• The 34-year-old Highland MSP won 48 per cent of the membership’s vote to Mr Yousaf’s 52 per cent at the final stage in the battle. She has remained outside of Cabinet since then but was the initial bookies’ favourite.
• SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said claims that he played a key role in Mr Yousaf’s downfall are “a lie”.
• No confidence votes from both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives remained on the table despite Mr Yousaf’s resignation.

No confidence votes from both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Conservatives remain on the table despite Humza Yousaf’s resignation this morning.

Following Mr Yousaf’s decision to tear up the SNP’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens last week, the Scottish Conservatives put forward a no confidence vote in the first minister.

Scottish Labour tabled a separate motion of no confidence on Friday, in the entire Scottish government rather than just Mr Yousaf.

Though Mr Yousaf has now resigned, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross told BBC Radio Scotland that the vote of no confidence in his leadership remains “on the table”.

“We’re in a similar position to Labour because we don’t know the process,” he said. “The current first minister obviously took no questions from the media after his statement

“We don’t know how long the selection process for a new SNP leader will be; we don’t know if there will even be an actual contest. So there’s an awful lot of things up in the air.”

Scottish Labour’s shadow finance secretary, Michael Marra MSP, said the party will spend the next 48 hours deciding whether to pursue its motion.

“There were no real answers to what happens next from the first minister today,” he told BBC Radio Scotland. “We want clarity on that so we can understand the next steps in the process.”

“We will see how the week develops,” he added.

The deputy leader of the SNP has said he hopes that John Swinney will put his name forward to run for the party leadership.

Keith Brown MSP told BBC Radio Scotland that the SNP’s next leader should be engaging, have experience and be able to unify both the people and the party.

“I very much hope that John Swinney puts his name forward… I think he completes all three of those criteria,” Mr Brown said.

He described Mr Swinney, who led the party from 2000 to 2004, as someone who is “competent and has integrity.”

“I hope whoever the next leader is takes us all the way through to 2026,” he added.

Labour is eyeing winning back a raft of Scottish seats it has not held since 2010 as it seeks to capitalise on the implosion by the SNP.

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf announced his intention on Monday to resign after he sparked political chaos in Holyrood by pulling the plug on the party’s coalition agreement with the Greens.

Both Labour and the Conservatives are now seeking to take advantage of the turmoil, with both parties believing they could pick up votes from the public growing increasingly disillusioned by the Scottish government.

One Scottish Labour source told i that it was difficult to put a figure on how many additional constituencies it could bring into play at the general election, but the insider added: “Our recovery has been people who previously backed them feeling like they were chaotic and out of ideas.

“It’s hard to see how this doesn’t confirm that fear. So there are lots of opportunities for us.”

Pollsters believe Labour could afford to target more seats not held since 2010, but pointed out that the SNP has built up a solid base since and a change of leader could prompt a turnaround in fortunes for the party.

Read the piece in full here.

Elsewhere in UK politics, ministers are considering replacing Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) with a new six-tier system of disability benefits that would see many recipients receiving less money than now.

A Government green paper on replacing PIPs proposes offering benefits to people according to their individual condition and specific needs.

The tier system would be based on a model in Norway known as “Basic Benefit”, where people are given monthly cash payments at one of six different rates, depending on the severity of their condition, their equipment and clinical needs, and other support.

People would have to provide a letter from their GP outlining the nature of their condition and the associated extra costs.

The newly published plan is just one of several options on the table as Rishi Sunak overhauls the benefits system, which could also see people with anxiety and depression receiving less money – a move that has already prompted criticism.

But the Prime Minister argued there was a “moral underpinning” to overhauling the benefits system, with the Government warning caseloads and costs are spiralling.

Read the piece in full here.

Stephen Flynn has said there is no need for an election in Scotland, despite Humza Yousaf’s resignation as first minister.

The SNP Westminster leader was asked whether he thinks voters should have a say, given his previous calls for a general election following changes made by the UK Government, for example when he claimed the Tories wanted to use Scottish jobs to fund tax breaks following the spring Budget.

Speaking outside Parliament, Mr Flynn said: “The difference between Westminster and Holyrood is that MSPs in Holyrood elect the First Minister.

“Nobody in Westminster elects a prime minister, they simply become prime minister on the basis of being the leader of the largest party, so there’s an inherent difference between the arguments there.”

He added that Labour were keen to push for a Scottish election despite the similar process for electing new Welsh First Minister Vaughan Gething, who could “well be getting moved on in the not too distant future”, and that other parties would “do well to focus on their own houses rather than ours”.

A few short sentences on page 33 of the Scottish National Party’s election manifesto promised to “improve and simplify the process by which a trans person can obtain legal recognition”.

The butterfly effect of that election pledge led Scottish politics on a path to chaos, culminating in the sudden resignation of First Minister Humza Yousaf.

Much like the Scottish independence question, the debate surrounding gender identity has forced people into two camps with insults flying in both directions.

The 2021 Holyrood election resulted in an impressive fourth successive victory for the SNP, even if the party fell just one seat short of a parliamentary majority.

The pro-independence Scottish Greens’ MSPs are natural allies for the SNP, and traditionally back the party in most votes.

So rather than operate another minority government, then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon decided to start a power-sharing agreement with them – known as the Bute House Agreement, named after the official residence of the first minister in Edinburgh.

Read Alan Roden’s piece in full here.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said claims that he played a key role in Humza Yousaf’s downfall are “a lie”.

Speaking outside Parliament, the Aberdeen South MP said: “Anyone positing that argument is doing so without the facts in place, it is in effect a lie, it is not true.

“Nobody goes into the First Minister’s house and tells them what to do, let alone me. Any individual pushing this argument is overstating my influence and is perhaps overestimating their own abilities politically.

“The reality is that myself and the First Minister, of course, discussed the situation with regards to the Bute House Agreement. I believe he made the right choice. I was not aware of the plan that was in place. We discussed the pros and the cons.”

He added: “The First Minister has himself said today that he misjudged the response from the Greens and, of course, the plan that was put in place by the First Minister and his advisers has obviously not come to fruition, but that doesn’t mean the decision was wrong. The decision was the right one.”

A series of senior figures within the SNP have called on John Swinney, who led the party between 2000 and 2004, to stand for the leadership once more.

Long-serving MP Pete Wishart, former Westminster leader Ian Blackford, current Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, and fellow MP Alyn Smith, have all called on him to run.

Mr Swinney, who left the role of deputy first minister when Nicola Sturgeon stepped down as first minister last year, said he had been “somewhat overwhelmed” by messages from colleagues in the SNP urging him to take on the role.

Scottish Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth, who had been suggested by some as a possible successor to Mr Yousaf, said Mr Swinney was “the best choice” to be the next first minister and SNP leader.

“I will be strongly supporting him if, as I hope, he chooses to run,” she said.

Mr Wishart said that Mr Swinney “would be an excellent unifier for our country and our party”, while Mr Flynn said he is the “cool, calm head” the public deserve, with a record in politics “unsurpassed in many respects”.

Mr Swinney has said he is giving “very careful consideration” to the possibility of standing, stating: “It is likely I will have more to say about that in the days to come.

He said: “I’ve got lots of things to think about, there’s the whole question of my family, and I have make sure I do the right thing by family, they are precious to me.”

But he added: “I have to do the right thing by my party and my country. So there is lots to be thought about.”

In further comments to the News Agents podcast, Stephen Flynn said that John Swinney is the “only one person who can unite” the SNP.

The party’s Westminster leader said: “These are deeply serious times ahead, they’re serious times for the public who are struggling with the consequences of the cost-of-living crisis, who are looking for hope and for aspiration for their future from the government.

“I think there’s only one person who has the experience to do that job. I think there’s only one person who can unite the party, I think there’s only one person who can unite the country and have that vision that you then go on and deliver.

“And I would like to think that person would be John Swinney. I would certainly encourage him to stand.”

Mr Flynn also expressed sympathy for the outgoing first minister, tell the podcast he “didn’t deserve” to resign under the circumstances he did.

He said: “Humza didn’t deserve this. He’s done the right thing and unfortunately doing the right thing has led to a reaction which he himself has stated he didn’t expect and of course it’s left us without a leader.”

More than 100 Conservative MPs have announced they are standing down at the next election. The phrase “rats leaving a sinking ship” springs to mind.

One of those departing the Tory benches is the member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Dr Dan Poulter, who dominated the airwaves this weekend as he jumped ship to the Labour Party.

On the eve of a set of local elections, Poulter’s attack on his former party and embrace of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party was timed to inflict maximum damage – even though most of the public will never have heard of the former health minister.

The elections were already set to be bad news for the beleaguered Conservatives and their increasingly desperate leader, Rishi Sunak.

Given Labour already has a consistent and commanding 20-point polling lead, the defection of Poulter is unlikely to shift polling much, but what does it say about the two major parties in British politics, and the sort of self-declared “centrist” MP that Poulter claims to be?

Primarily, it tells us that Keir Starmer’s “changed Labour Party” is a comfortable home for the sort of Cameronite Tory that Poulter is.

Read the piece in full here.

John Swinney is the “cool, calm head” the public deserve, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said.

The Aberdeen South MP said Mr Swinney’s record in politics is “unsurpassed in many respects” and he is “deeply in tune with public opinion”.

Mr Flynn added: “John Swinney is the cool, calm head the public deserve and I hope he’s the cool, calm head that the public get, and it’s for John now to decide whether that’s the case.”

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has given his backing to John Swinney to take over from Humza Yousaf, saying “serious times demand serious politics and serious politicians”.

Mr Flynn told the PA news agency: “Firstly, I’m incredibly sorry that this has happened. Humza has acted with the utmost integrity and compassion, and with the priorities of the public at the forefront of everything he’s done throughout his time in Bute House. He’s a good man and I’m just very sorry.

“These are, of course, serious times and serious times demand serious politics and serious politicians, and they don’t get much more serious, they don’t get much better than John Swinney.

“I therefore sincerely hope that he can be convinced to run in this race and encouragement from the likes of myself can make that happen.”

Mr Flynn said he had not spoken to Mr Swinney since he bumped into him at a train station last week, but would try to call him on Monday evening.

“I, like many others, will try and pick up the phone to him tonight, I imagine his phone is ringing off the hook because this is an important thing,” he said.

“It’s important for the SNP but more importantly it’s important for the public back home. They expect the Government to be focused on their priorities … and I believe John Swinney would be best-placed to take on those challenges.”

Former Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes is giving “serious consideration” to opposing John Swinney if he stands to become the next SNP leader, The Telegraph reports.

“Nobody doubts John’s longstanding commitment to the SNP,” an ally of Ms Forbes said. “But maybe the question to ask is to what extent is he the future?

“Kate said last time continuity won’t cut it, and it didn’t. What is John if not continuity? Kate is still very popular with members and has been vindicated on almost everything she said in the last campaign. She is giving it serious consideration.”

John Swinney is among the names touted to replace Humza Yousaf in the top job.

Several senior members of the SNP have put his name out there, urging him to return to frontline politics and steady the ship unsettled by Mr Yousaf’s imminent departure.

It would not be the first foray into the leadership for the former Tayside North MP, should he make the decision to go for it. In September 2000, he took over as leader following the departure of Alex Salmond – the first time – having served as his deputy for two years previously.

His tenure was not be a happy one. The party’s fortunes sank, returning just five MPs at the 2001 Westminster election and 22 MSPs in the 2003 Holyrood vote. After seeing off an attempt to oust him by a party activist, Mr Swinney stepped down voluntarily after a poor showing at the 2004 European elections.

But that was not the end of his political story and he was brought back by Mr Salmond to serve as finance secretary when the SNP took power in 2007. He served in the role for the entirety of Mr Salmond’s tenure, before being appointed deputy first minister by Nicola Sturgeon when she took over.

Over the following nine years, the Perthshire North MSP occupied several ministerial offices, including education secretary, Covid-19 recovery secretary, and again in finance – taking over from Kate Forbes during her maternity leave.

During his time as Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy, he cemented his reputation as a dogged defender of his boss, as well as an SNP stalwart.

But it was not without its challenges, as he faced two close no confidence votes in Holyrood, first over the handling of school exams during the pandemic, and his initial refusal to publish legal advice during the inquiry into the botched handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond.

The election of Mr Yousaf as First Minister saw Mr Swinney call time on his career in Cabinet, but the urging of colleagues may be enough to see him seek the top job.

As told by PA news agency.

The News Agents podcast’s Emily Maitlis has reported that, in an interview on the show, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has ruled himself out of the race to become the next party leader.

He also reportedly backed former deputy first minister, John Swinney, who has said that he is “giving very careful consideration to standing to be the leader of the SNP”.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has been asked if he will now withdraw the motion of no confidence that his party tabled against Humza Yousaf’s Government now that the SNP leader has stepped down.

He told Sky News: “I think we need to see how the rest of the week pans out because there are still quite a lot of unknowns. But the principles of our motion still stand… one, that we continue to have no confidence that the SNP can provide the stable, competent leadership our country needs right now… and the second one being that we are now in the process of electing a third SNP leader in just over a year.

“Nicola Sturgeon herself said that we shouldn’t have a revolving door around Downing Street when Rishi Sunak was elected as the Conservative Party leader, and that they should go back to the country to elect the leader of the UK Government. I think this exact same principle applies here in Scotland.”

Pressed on whether the no-confidence motion will be withdrawn, he said that several things remain “really, really unclear,” including how long Mr Yousaf will stay in office, whether there will be a full leadership contest and how long it will take.

He added that the principles of the motion “still stand,” especially when there are “crises” in the NHS and the economy. “We need credible, stable government; we need strong, grown-up leadership, neither of which we are getting from the SNP right now.”

He said it should be “for the people of Scotland to decide who leads our country, not a back room stitch-up by the SNP or a handful of SNP members”. 

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has said that former deputy first minister John Swinney would represent “absolute continuity” if he were to become SNP leader.

He told Times Radio he “wouldn’t be surprised if John Swinney has this sewn up already” and that he believes the leadership race will be over as soon we next week.

“John Swinney served in Alex Salmond’s cabinet and Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet and was one of the strongest supporters of Humza Yousaf,” he said.

“It will be absolute continuity again, with more focus on independence and separating Scotland from the rest of the UK than on improving our public services that have suffered year after year with the nationalists’ obsession with governing in the SNP’s interests rather than Scotland’s interests.”

The Scottish Conservatives are on an “election footing” and are prepared for the potential of an early Holyrood election, their leader Douglas Ross has said.

Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “Yes, I’m ready for that. I’ve been discussing with some of our candidates. We’ve got candidates in place for the Westminster election already. 

“I started discussions with other candidates for Holyrood over the weekend. We are definitely on an election footing and off the back of that most recent electoral test in Scotland, we can be winning seats off the SNP up and down the country, and I’m looking forward to it.”