HUMZA YOUSAF TO SUCCEED STURGEON AS SNP LEADER

 BBC News 27 March 2023

Mr Yousaf defeated Ash Regan (left) and Kate Forbes in the vote of SNP members

Humza Yousaf is to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland's first minister after a vote of party members.

Mr Yousaf defeated rivals Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in a leadership contest that exposed deep divisions within the party.

The 37-year-old is the first Muslim to lead a major UK party. 

He is set to be confirmed as the first ethnic minority leader of a devolved government on Tuesday.

Mr Yousaf is currently Scotland's health secretary and was widely assumed to be Ms Sturgeon's preferred successor, although she did not explicitly back any of the candidates in the contest.

The leadership election was decided by the Single Transferable Vote system, with 50,490 of the SNP's 72,169 members casting a ballot - the vast majority of them online.

After Ms Regan was eliminated in the first round, Mr Yousaf defeated Ms Forbes by 52% to 48% in the second round, with Mr Yousaf receiving 26,032 votes and Ms Forbes 23,890.

The new SNP leader will face a vote in the Scottish Parliament - which he is virtually certain to win - on Tuesday before becoming Scotland's sixth first minister.

He had been the clear favourite with the bookmakers during the contest, with some pundits surprised at how close the final result was.

Ms Forbes, a member of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland, had been attacked by the SNP hierarchy during the contest over her socially conservative views on issues such as gay marriage, abortion and having children outside of marriage.

Speaking after the result was announced at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Ms Yousaf called on the party to unite behind him after what has often been a fractious leadership contest.

He said independence would be won "on the doorsteps" and pledged to kickstart a grassroots campaign, adding: "We will be the generation to win independence for Scotland".

Mr Yousaf added: "In the SNP we are a family. Over the last five weeks we may have been competitors or supporters of different candidates.

"We are no longer team Humza, or team Ash, or team Kate, we are one team."

Mr Yousaf also said his grandparents had arrived in Scotland in the 1960s barely able to speak a word of English, and would not have believed "in their wildest dreams" that their grandson would one day become first minister of Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon, who was Scotland's longest-serving first minister, announced last month she was stepping down after more than eight years in the job.