![]() Humza Yousaf announcing his intention to resign as SNP leader on 29 April 2024 | |
Date | 25–29 April 2024 |
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Cause |
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Motive | To declare no confidence in Humza Yousaf as First Minister, and no confidence in the Scottish Government [1] |
Participants | Conservative, Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat and Alba MSPs |
Outcome |
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In April 2024, Humza Yousaf, first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), faced a confidence challenge following his termination of the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens, which meant that Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, co-leaders of the Greens and their only government ministers, were removed from government. [2] This was following changes to landmark climate policy by Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy Màiri McAllan, [3] after which a planned Greens vote on the continuation of the agreement was announced. [4] Facing a motion of confidence in him Yousaf announced his intention to resign as first minister and party leader on 29 April.
The Scottish electoral system is designed to make single-party government difficult to achieve. [5] The Scottish National Party (SNP) has been in power in Scotland since 2007. [6] The Scottish Parliament election in 2021 resulted in a hung parliament with the SNP winning 64 seats, one short of an overall majority. [7] In August 2021 a power-sharing agreement between the government and the Scottish Greens was created to support the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon and the formation of the Third Sturgeon government. This meant that the first Green Party ministers ever in the UK were to be appointed: [8] Patrick Harvie became Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights and Lorna Slater became Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity. [9]
The Bute House Agreement was, despite some policy concessions, popular with the SNP membership, with some 95 per cent voting in favour at the time of the agreement. [10] Some policies were changed to gain the Greens' support, [11] such as their proposal to stop North Sea oil drilling, [12] which some SNP figures, such as Kate Forbes, criticised, alongside their plans to phase out the natural gas industry. [13] The SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, who was later suspended from the SNP group in parliament for a week because of his rebellions, [14] blamed the Greens for the government delaying the duelling of the A9 road, the longest road in Scotland. [15] The controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill resulted in the United Kingdom government using section 35 of the Scotland Act 1998 for the first time to block the bill. [16] The Green Party's bottle deposit return scheme was delayed in 2023. [17]
The co-operation deal was defended by MSPs from the SNP and the Greens, including Humza Yousaf, who—mere days before ending the deal—stated that he "really valued the deal" and wished "to keep achieving a lot with the Green Party". [18] The Green MSP Ross Greer spoke of the deal's policy achievements, including "record funding for wildlife and nature", "free bus travel for under-22s", and "the most progressive tax system in the UK". [10] Following Sturgeon's resignation and the subsequent leadership election the Greens decided to stay in government. [19]
Humza Yousaf's leadership had been under scrutiny following the arrest of Peter Murrell on 18 April 2024, amid the ongoing Operation Branchform. [20] [21] On 18 April 2024, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy Màiri McAllan scrapped climate change targets, [3] causing the Greens to call a vote on whether to continue the power-sharing deal. However, before this vote took place, Yousaf announced the end of the Bute House Agreement on 25 April 2024. [2]
After the termination of the agreement, the Scottish Conservatives called a vote of no confidence against Yousaf, which the Scottish Greens said they would support. [22] [23] Because of the narrow vote margins in the Scottish Parliament, if the vote had taken place, Ash Regan of the Alba Party would have been the sole decider on the vote's result. [24] Alex Salmond, former SNP First Minister and now leader of Alba, called Regan the "most powerful MSP in the Scottish Parliament". [25] Regan, who had left the SNP the year prior, was called "no great loss" by Yousaf at the time of her defection. [26] She sent him her list of demands to secure her support, which included progress on Scottish independence and defending "the rights of women and children". [27]
On 26 April, Yousaf postponed a scheduled speech at the University of Strathclyde on labour strategy in an independent Scotland. [28] The same day he claimed that he had no plan to resign as first minister of Scotland. [29] He claimed the day after that a snap Scottish Parliament election was a possibility. [30] On 28 April, Salmond said that Alba was "prepared to assist" Yousaf in the confidence vote. [31] His demand was a renewed Scottish independence plan. [32] He appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and said that the SNP should return to the "people's priorities" of education, jobs and industry. [33] Yousaf reportedly ruled out any electoral pact. [34] It was Salmond who firstly appointed Yousaf to government: in 2012, as minister for Europe and International Development in the Second Salmond government. [35] Chair of the Alba Party Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh said that an "electoral pact" is not part of negotiations. [36] Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton ruled out Yousaf's offer of talks. [37]
Late on 28 April, it was speculated that Yousaf planned to step down the next day, fearing that he could not survive the no confidence vote against him: he did, announcing that he would resign as both leader of the SNP and first minister of Scotland once his successor has been chosen. [38] In his resignation speech Yousaf reasserted that he believed the vote of no confidence could have resulted in his favour, however he choose to resign instead as he was "not willing to trade [his] values and principles, or do deals with whomever, simply for retaining power". [39] The day after, officials at Holyrood announced that Labour's motion of no confidence would be voted on by MSPs the next day, which would have required the entire Scottish government to resign if it were to be passed. [40] The vote went ahead the next day, ending in favour of the continuation of the current Scottish government, [41] with 58 MSPs – from Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, and Alba – voting for the motion and 70 – from the SNP and the Greens – voting against. [42]
The Scottish National Party is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 62 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It has 453 local councillors of the 1,227 available. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom and for Scotland's membership in the European Union, with a platform based on progressive social policies and civic nationalism. Founded in 1934 with the amalgamation of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party, the party has had continuous parliamentary representation in Westminster since Winnie Ewing won the 1967 Hamilton by-election.
The Scottish Greens are a green political party in Scotland. The party has 7 MSPs of 129 in the Scottish Parliament, the party holds 35 of the 1226 councillors at Scottish local Government level.
Michael Stephen Matheson is a Scottish politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first representing the Central Scotland region and, since 2007, the Falkirk West constituency. Matheson previously served in the Scottish government as Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care from 2023 to 2024, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport from 2018 to 2023, and Cabinet Secretary for Justice from 2014 to 2018.
In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a left social democratic political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. The SNP has controlled Scotland's devolved legislature since the 2007 election as a minority government, and were a majority government from the 2011 election and have been a minority government, since the 2016 election.
Patrick Harvie is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024. He has served as one of two co-leaders of the Scottish Greens since 2008, and is one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as a government minister. Harvie has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region since 2003.
Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He then served as leader of the Alba Party from 2021 until his death in 2024.
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected. The election was held alongside the Senedd election in Wales, English local elections, London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
Humza Haroon Yousaf is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from March 2023 to May 2024. He served under his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon as justice secretary from 2018 to 2021 and then as health secretary from 2021 to 2023. He has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Glasgow Pollok since 2016, having previously been a regional MSP for Glasgow from 2011 to 2016.
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Lorna Slater is a Scottish-Canadian politician in Scotland, who served as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity in the Scottish Government from 2021 to 2024. She has been co-leader of the Scottish Greens, alongside Patrick Harvie, since 2019, and was one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as government ministers.
The next Scottish Parliament election is required to be held no later than Thursday 7 May 2026, to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It will be the seventh general election since the parliament was re-established in 1999.
The 6th Scottish Parliament was elected at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. It was opened with the Escort to the Crown of Scotland Parade and Speech from the Throne on 2 October 2021.
The Alba Party is a Scottish nationalist and pro-independence political party in Scotland. Founded in February 2021, it was led by former first minister of Scotland and SNP leader Alex Salmond until his death in 2024. Salmond launched the party's 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign in March 2021, with the party standing list-only candidates.
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The Bute House Agreement, officially the Cooperation Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group was a power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National Party (SNP) government and the Scottish Greens which was agreed in August 2021 to support the Third Sturgeon government and then was reaffirmed to support the First Yousaf government.
The 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election took place in February and March 2023 to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, who announced her resignation on 15 February. Nominations closed on 24 February 2023 with three candidates: Kate Forbes, Ash Regan, and Humza Yousaf being presented to the electorate of party members. Yousaf was elected the new leader on 27 March with 48.2% of first preference votes and 52.1% of the vote after third-placed candidate Regan's second preferences were redistributed. Yousaf was elected as the First Minister of Scotland on 28 March 2023.
Humza Yousaf's term as first minister of Scotland began on 29 March 2023 when he was formally sworn into office at the Court of Session, and ended on 7 May 2024, when he resigned amid two votes of no confidence in him and his government.
Humza Yousaf formed the first Yousaf government on 29 March 2023 following his appointment as First Minister of Scotland at the Court of Session. It followed the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on 15 February, triggering a leadership contest that Yousaf won.
The 2024 Scottish National Party leadership election took place to choose the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) following the resignation of Humza Yousaf on 29 April 2024, amid a government crisis. Nominations closed on 6 May, with John Swinney emerging as the only candidate and was subsequently elected unopposed as the party's new leader.
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