The Scotsman Bulletin Tuesday December 17 2024 #HumzaYousaf

The Scotsman

Dale speaks to political editor Alistair Grant about former First Minister, Humza Yousaf's decision to not stand at the 2026 Holyrood election

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's daily video bulletin for this Tuesday.

00:04My name is Dale Miller.

00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our political editor, Alistair Grant.

00:12And Alistair, it's one of your stories leading the front page of the Scotsman today.

00:17Our watchdog, this is the Scottish Information Commissioner blasting SNP ministers in a secrecy

00:24row.

00:25It relates to an inquiry into the conduct of Nicola Sturgeon from a couple of years

00:29ago linked to the Alex Salmond affair.

00:32She was ultimately cleared of breaching the ministerial code, but the SIC, well, this

00:38is effectively the second statement where David Hamilton has taken a swipe at the Scottish

00:44government, which took the commissioner's office to court, lost that battle, will have

00:50to pay back at least £30,000 as part of the process.

00:55He is unhappy with the way it's handled with some pretty strongly worded language.

01:01In that piece, you can read the story at scotsman.com and continues to raise questions about just

01:08how open the Scottish government has been throughout the process.

01:12Alistair, you're on not necessarily to talk about that story though, but around some further

01:18developments today in Scottish politics.

01:20We're meant to be winding down, it feels like Christmas is around the corner, but we're

01:25not.

01:26Scottish politics never sleeps.

01:27And there's a big announcement from Humza this morning.

01:30Yeah, so Humza Yousaf, the former first minister, has announced that he will not be standing

01:35again as an MSP in 2026.

01:37I think this was quite widely anticipated that he probably would make this decision

01:42and choose to step back from frontline politics, but I think actually allies around him have

01:48been pushing back quite strongly when journalists have put this to him and his team previously.

01:53But he's now announced it, he's confirmed it, as I say, not unexpected.

01:57He was obviously Scotland's second shortest serving first minister, stood down earlier

02:02this year after choosing to end the Bute House agreement with the Scottish Greens, which

02:07led to the collapse of the Scottish government, really led to Humza Yousaf having to resign

02:13as first minister because he didn't have the support in parliament to continue.

02:18I think probably if you look at his legacy, it's probably quite a complicated one in some

02:22ways in the sense that he is a pioneering figure.

02:26He was the first first minister of colour.

02:28He was the first Muslim leader of a Western democratic nation.

02:33Those are achievements that he can look back on.

02:36I think he was quite widely liked as a kind of in terms of personal figure across the

02:42parliament, but he probably didn't achieve all that much or certainly not as much as

02:47he would ever have wanted to in his time as first minister.

02:49It was cut short.

02:50I think ultimately he'll be remembered for that pretty disastrous decision to end the

02:55cooperation agreement between the SNP and the Greens, or at least his disastrous handling

03:00of it, which led to him having to resign.

03:04I remember covering that story and it was just over a weekend.

03:07There was just incredible developments every day.

03:10So I think that's probably what he'll be remembered for.

03:13And it's also worth thinking about the fact that his entire time as first minister was

03:17basically overshadowed by the kind of ongoing mess in the SNP.

03:22He was only in the job for, I think, really a matter of days before the police

03:28investigation into the SNP's funding and finances exploded into the headlines.

03:31We had those extraordinary scenes of the police raiding Nicola Sturgeon's house that

03:37she shares for husband Peter Murrell, that blue tent outside their house, I'm sure

03:41people will remember. And then a couple of months later, we had Nicola Sturgeon's

03:46arrest and obviously later released without charge.

03:49So his entire time as first minister was really kind of governed by events outside of

03:54his control. And there was stuff that even hangovers from the Nicola Sturgeon

03:58administration, like people might remember the plans for highly protected marine areas,

04:02the deposit return scheme, all these things that weren't necessarily haunted use of

04:06policies, but he ended up having to kind of deal with and became kind of associated with

04:10in some ways. So, yeah, I think he will be able to look back on some achievements, but

04:16I'm sure he'll have plenty of frustrations as well.

04:20Fair to say it was always going to be difficult, perhaps, for whoever took over from

04:24Nicola Sturgeon. Now we see the SNP improving slightly in the polls in recent weeks

04:29under John Swinney, sort of adding to that picture of a difficult tenure for him.

04:34We know, Alistair, that John Swinney said he plans to lead the party into the 2026

04:39election. Is there any sort of changing in the guard happening leading into 2026, do you

04:45think? Because we're widely expecting to hear a decision from Nicola Sturgeon over

04:50coming months as well, and many anticipate she might not run again as well.

04:55Yeah, I think we'll have a series of announcements.

04:57Nicola Sturgeon is obviously the big one, widely expected to also stand down in 2026.

05:02You'll have that sense that there's some of those politicians, I mean, Nicola Sturgeon's

05:05one of them, they've been there since the dawn of the revolution, they've been there

05:08since 1999 and are now kind of coming to the end of their time, or the expected end of

05:13their time in Parliament.

05:15And so I think that's one to look for.

05:17And John Swinney obviously will remain in place until after that election.

05:21He said he will, and I can't see that changing any time soon.

05:25But, you know, there is this sense of the kind of old guard of Scottish politics.

05:31These people that have been around since Holyrood started are starting to trickle out

05:36now. And I think that will bring a lot of changes.

05:39And I think when we look to the 2026 election, there'll be lots of new blood coming

05:44in. I mean, one of the things I thought was quite funny that Humza Yousaf said is that

05:46he was stepping back to make way for a new generation of MSPs.

05:51I mean, Humza Yousaf is only 39, so he's not old by any stretch of the imagination.

05:57I mean, John Swinney is 60.

05:59So it's just it's quite a funny thought that a 39 year old basically feels that they're

06:03now, you know, their time is over in politics.

06:05But I'm sure he'll feel that he's got plenty to contribute elsewhere.

06:09He was certainly on an accelerated path getting to become first minister at quite a young

06:15age. And maybe it reflects the pace, perhaps, at which that transition happened

06:20for him. Alice, just on the something else, it's sort of tied into the same subject, but

06:26we ran an exclusive interview with Stephen Flynn on the weekend with some comments just

06:31him readdressing and saying he was going to wait until the New Year, effectively, have a

06:37couple of beers over Christmas and think about is he running for Holyrood, just Holyrood,

06:42or is he going to stay with Westminster?

06:43But there's a vote taking place today that may make it definitive about holding two

06:49jobs. Yeah, MSPs expected to vote later on today to ban double jobbing.

06:54That's MPs also sitting as MSPs and also peers in the House of Lords.

07:00It'll stop them also being MSPs.

07:02And this has been a running issue in Holyrood for a number of years, but it became a

07:08big deal because Stephen Flynn announced his intention to run for Holyrood while remaining

07:12an MP. That sparked a backlash within the SNP.

07:16There's lots of unhappiness about it.

07:18I think the way he went about it actually was what really annoyed people.

07:21And there's a sense that he was kind of arrogant, I suppose, but he is, you know, he's

07:26apologised for that. He's said that he's kind of reconsidering that plan.

07:30But this would basically be the definitive banning of double jobbing.

07:35And the expectation is if MSPs vote for it today, which they're widely expected to

07:39because the Scottish government also backs these plans, that this would come into force

07:44before or in time for the 2026 election.

07:48So it's just kind of providing clarity, I guess, on exactly where we stand on this issue.

07:52And it's worth saying that I think both the Welsh Parliament and the Norman Irish

07:57Assembly ban double jobbing.

07:59So Holyrood is actually the outlier here in still allowing it.

08:03And I mean, it has been high profile figures that have held roles in both parliaments

08:07before, Alex Salmond being one of them, John Swinney very, very briefly at the kind of

08:11dawn of devolution, Douglas Ross, famously the Scottish Tory leader, who was

08:16criticised for it by the SNP, which made Stephen Flynn's move even more potentially

08:21hypocritical. But yeah, I think that there's definitely a feeling in parliament that being

08:26an MSP is a full time job and you're there to represent your constituents.

08:31And it shouldn't really be the case that you can hold a job in another parliament as

08:35well. Even if you're representing the same constituency, there's a kind of feeling that

08:39being an MSP should be enough in and of itself.

08:42And I think that's a feeling that's shared quite widely across the political parties.

08:46You'll be able to read about the outcome of that vote as well as Humza Yousaf's reasons

08:51for not standing for 2026 at Scotsman.com throughout today.

08:57Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky and go out and pick up a copy of

09:02the paper tomorrow for all the latest.

09:04Thank you, Alastair, and thanks, everyone, for joining us.

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