The Scotsman Bulletin Friday April 26 2024 #HumzaYousaf

The Scotsman

Scotsman deputy editor speaks to political correspondent Rachel Amery about a momentous day in Scottish politics after First Minister Humza Yousaf dissolved the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Green Party

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:06 >> Hello and welcome to the Scotsman Daily Bulletin for Friday.

00:09 I'm Alan Young, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined today after

00:13 a momentous day in politics by our correspondent, Rachel Emery.

00:18 Hi, Rachel.

00:19 >> Morning.

00:21 >> Let's have a look at the front page first.

00:24 And there you go, the splash today with Hamza Yousaf on the brink after

00:30 quite incredible eight hours which started with him dumping the Greens

00:37 from government and ended with him fighting for his political future.

00:42 And Rachel, lots of coverage in today's paper, clearly, and online.

00:50 But there is a sense that events are moving so quickly now that

00:56 it's completely getting overtaken even from where we were last night.

01:03 Bring us up to date, take a breath and tell us where we are now.

01:07 >> I know people say that a day is a long time in politics and

01:10 my goodness, yesterday really demonstrated that.

01:13 So I got on the train in the morning through to Holyrood and

01:16 we got this notification that there's going to be

01:18 an emergency cabinet meeting held in Bute House at 8.30 AM.

01:22 It's very unusual for a cabinet meeting to be held on a Thursday because normally

01:26 Thursday mornings are kept clear so

01:28 Hamza Yousaf can focus on the First Minister's questions at midday instead.

01:32 So immediately we knew something was going to happen,

01:35 something big was going to be announced.

01:37 And we very quickly got this announcement that the Bute House agreement,

01:40 which is the power sharing deal of the Greens, had been scrapped completely.

01:44 And he had a press conference in Bute House, our political editor,

01:47 Alistair Grant, went along to that in the morning.

01:49 And Hamza Yousaf is very keen to show that he is showing strong leadership by making

01:53 this decision.

01:54 But of course, he could probably not have foreseen the fallout that then happened.

01:59 Only a couple of hours later at First Minister's questions,

02:01 Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross dropped the bomb that he is going to lodge

02:05 a motion of no confidence in Hamza Yousaf as First Minister.

02:09 That motion has already had enough signatures to be put to a vote.

02:12 We're expecting that probably on Wednesday.

02:15 And the Conservatives, the Labour Party, the Lib Dems and the Greens are all going

02:21 to back this no confidence motion.

02:23 And that does mean there's one MSP who kind of holds all the power here,

02:28 and that is Ash Regan.

02:30 She was Hamza Yousaf's rival for SNP leadership and then defected to the

02:35 Al-Aba party, so probably the last person that Hamza Yousaf wants to be deciding

02:40 his fate.

02:41 She has now written to Hamza Yousaf with a list of demands to see if she can support

02:46 him in this motion.

02:48 So we have to wait and see what she decides and what he decides, basically,

02:52 as to how this all works out.

02:54 As you were saying, it is moving very, very quickly.

02:57 And just as we came onto this video, we got the notification that Hamza Yousaf,

03:01 he was due to make a speech at Strathclyde University at midday today on the labour

03:07 market.

03:08 It was pre-planned.

03:09 It had nothing to do with the Bute House Agreement at all.

03:12 We've just had a confirmation that that has now been cancelled, and he is now not

03:16 going to be making a public appearance today.

03:19 - We have heard already today as well from the SNP's Westminster leader,

03:25 Stephen Flynn, who many suspect had a hand in ditching the Bute House Agreement.

03:33 - Yes, he was up in Holyrood earlier on this week.

03:36 Obviously, he is not an MSP.

03:37 He is an MP, so quite unusual to see him in Holyrood.

03:41 But he was in there earlier this week.

03:43 And, of course, lots of speculation that he had a lot of influence over this.

03:48 So he has now come onto the radio this morning, saying that Hamza is ready to come

03:51 out fighting.

03:51 He's very much backing Hamza Yousaf in this decision.

03:55 Of course, we just wait and see what happens here because the no-conference motion,

04:00 Stephen Flynn can have his say all he wants, but he's not the one voting on it.

04:03 So he does have not as much power as perhaps he might want to have in this.

04:10 - And it is likely you would expect that this is never going to go to a vote on confidence.

04:18 If it is clear to Hamza Yousaf that he's defeated, he's very likely to resign in advance.

04:27 - That could potentially happen, yes.

04:30 What you said is very much in the balance.

04:32 It depends what Ash Vegan says.

04:34 If it does go to a no-conference vote and he loses that vote, there's actually no obligation

04:39 for him to leave.

04:40 It's different if there was a no-conference in the government motion.

04:43 In that case, they would all be expected to resign.

04:45 All government ministers would have to go.

04:48 It's not the same this time because it's just Hamza Yousaf.

04:50 There's no obligation for him to leave.

04:52 You've got to imagine that he would leave because surely he can't continue when he knows

04:57 he does not have the support or the backing of the parliament behind him.

05:00 He surely would have to go at that point.

05:03 At that point, the Parliament would have 28 days to appoint a new First Minister.

05:09 Lots of questions as to who that could even possibly be.

05:11 There's not an obvious candidate there.

05:14 Would you be asking Shona Robison, the Deputy First Minister, would you be asking her to

05:18 step up?

05:19 Would you turn to Kate Forbes, of course, Hamza Yousaf's leadership rival last year and

05:24 clearly still favoured in the back benches of the SNP?

05:27 Would you look for somebody like Neil Gray?

05:30 He's very much seen as a safe pair of hands and has been given a lot of ministerial positions

05:34 and promotions recently as well.

05:37 But there's not an obvious candidate.

05:40 Of course, the opposition parties will try and put forward their own candidates.

05:43 But given that there is not a party, the bigger majority than the SNP, unlikely that that

05:49 would go anywhere.

05:50 But they would have 28 days to do that.

05:52 And then after that, it does descend into chaos.

05:54 I'm sure we won't get to that point, I'm sure.

05:57 But yes, it depends on how this conversation between Ash Regan in the ALBA party and Hamza

06:03 Yousaf in the SNP party all depends on how that conversation goes over the next couple

06:08 of days.

06:09 One thing I thought was quite interesting on the radio this morning, they were talking

06:12 about how is this a continuation of the fallout between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon?

06:17 Because of course, Alex Salmond is in charge of the ALBA party and very much back into

06:22 the media spotlight, very much revelling in the fact that he's in demand.

06:26 Again, people want to know what he has to say, because what he has to say could be very

06:30 important.

06:31 And of course, Hamza Yousaf was branded Nicola Sturgeon's continuity candidate last year

06:36 as well.

06:37 So that's an interesting way to look at this as well, I think.

06:41 Fascinating times and I have a feeling it's going to keep developing very quickly today

06:46 and over the weekend.

06:47 Thanks very much for talking us through all that, Rachel.

06:49 Please keep an eye on Scotsman.com for all the very latest updates.

06:54 If you can, do subscribe and you'll be able to read absolutely everything on our site.

06:59 And if you're out and about today, please do pick up a copy of the paper from me and

07:02 from Rachel.

07:03 It's bye for now.

07:04 Goodbye.

07:04 [MUSIC]

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