It has been a rollercoaster 12 months for Humza Yousaf as he marks one yr as Scotland’s first minister.
Mr Yousaf has celebrated the highs of his promised council tax freeze and weathered the lows of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon being arrested.
Mr Yousaf was sworn into workplace on 29 March 2023 after a bruising contest to succeed Ms Sturgeon, who stunned the nation together with her shock resignation as first minister and SNP chief.
He grew to become Scotland’s youngest ever first minister, and the primary from an ethnic minority background to carry the submit.
Pic: PA
Now a yr on, Mr Yousaf says the function continues to be the “biggest honour” of his life however accepts that “there’s nonetheless much more to do to ship for the individuals of Scotland”.
Mr Yousaf stated: “I’m honoured day by day to guide a authorities pushed by clear values, and I’m completely dedicated to persevering with to make Scotland a greater place to stay, work and research for everybody who makes it their house.”
Chatting with Sky Information, Mr Yousaf stated going ahead he’ll proceed to marketing campaign for Scottish independence and can search a Part 30 Order to carry a second referendum if Sir Keir Starmer is elected prime minister on the subsequent basic election.
He stated, “however” the challenges his occasion has confronted over the previous yr, assist for independence is “rock strong”.
Mr Yousaf added: “What we have got to proceed to do as a authorities is reveal progress in how we’re delivering for the priorities of the individuals.”
The primary minister stated he would proceed to showcase how a lot progress Holyrood could make below devolution, including: “Then, after all, we will make the argument and needs to be making the argument that think about what we might do with the total powers of a standard impartial nation.”
The primary minister collaborating in a dance efficiency throughout a go to to Edinburgh Neighborhood Performing Arts re-connect challenge earlier this month. Pic: PA
The primary minister’s highs:
• Highlighting a few of his authorities’s accomplishments, Mr Yousaf stated Holyrood would proceed to give attention to decreasing little one poverty. He claimed the Scottish authorities’s insurance policies will maintain 100,000 youngsters out of relative poverty and 70,000 out of absolute poverty in 2024-25, in line with just lately revealed evaluation
• He stated the nationwide council tax freeze would shield households amid the price of dwelling disaster.
• The primary minister stated a file £19.5bn has been invested into Scotland’s NHS – with out shedding a single day to pay-related strike motion.
• He added {that a} file variety of junior docs are becoming a member of the nation’s NHS.
• Mr Yousaf acknowledged that Scotland led each different nation and area final month for personal sector employment development.
• The primary minister famous that file numbers of faculty leavers are occurring to a “constructive vacation spot”. This features a file excessive variety of younger Scots from disadvantaged areas making use of to check at college.
• He acknowledged that Scotland’s GDP per head has grown at a sooner charge than the UK common.
• Mr Yousaf additionally stated his authorities has pledged as much as £500m to assist the offshore wind business to assist create 1000’s of inexperienced jobs.
• And in addition value celebrating, the primary minister is anticipating a baby this July with spouse Nadia El-Nakla. The couple have already got two youngsters – their daughter Amal is 4 and Mr Yousaf is stepfather to 14-year-old Maya – and at the moment are set to develop into the primary household to welcome a child whereas in Bute Home.
Mr Yousaf together with his household after successful the SNP management contest final yr. Pic: PA
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The primary minister’s lows:
• It was a tough yr for the SNP as former chief Nicola Sturgeon, ex-chief government Peter Murrell and former treasurer Colin Beattie had been every arrested and launched with out cost amid a police probe into the occasion’s funding and funds. Police erected a blue forensics tent outdoors Ms Sturgeon and husband Mr Murrell’s house throughout a search.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell’s house was searched as a part of the police probe. Pic: PA
• Mr Yousaf’s in-laws grew to become trapped in Gaza following the breakout of the Israel-Hamas battle in October. Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla finally made it again house to Dundee one month later, with Ms El-Nakla telling Sky Information her life had “modified eternally”.
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Mr Yousaf’s mother-in-law spoke to Sky Information about her time trapped in Gaza
• Scottish Labour trounced the SNP within the battle for former MP Margaret Ferrier’s Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat. Ms Ferrier, who had the SNP whip eliminated for breaching COVID guidelines throughout lockdown, was ousted from Westminster following a profitable recall petition. Michael Shanks defeated Katy Loudon by 17,845 votes to eight,399 – a majority of 9,446 and a 20.36% swing from SNP to Scottish Labour.
Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar (proper) with Michael Shanks. Pic: PA
• The Scottish authorities’s bottle deposit return scheme was delayed till at the least October 2025 after Westminster rejected an utility for an exemption to the Inside Market Act – successfully blocking glass from the scheme. Circularity Scotland, the corporate tasked with overseeing the scheme, later folded with £86m in money owed. Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing was suspended from the occasion’s Holyrood group for voting towards authorities minister and Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater in a confidence vote. Ms Slater, who was criticised over her dealing with of the scheme, survived the vote.
• It was a yr of leaping ship with ex-SNP management rival Ash Regan MSP leaving for the Alba Occasion and Dr Lisa Cameron MP defecting to the Tories. Angus MacNeil MP was expelled from the SNP following a row with the occasion’s chief whip at Westminster. Mr MacNeil refused to rejoin the group on the finish of a suspension and was subsequently given the boot. The MP has vowed to face as an impartial candidate on the subsequent basic election.
• In December, the Scottish authorities introduced it could take no additional authorized motion towards Westminster’s veto of its controversial gender reform invoice. It got here after Scotland’s highest civil courtroom dominated that the UK authorities acted lawfully in blocking the invoice from receiving royal assent. Westminster is now searching for reimbursement for the authorized prices it incurred defending its resolution.
• Michael Matheson was compelled to stop as well being secretary final month amid a probe into an £11,000 iPad knowledge roaming invoice. Mr Matheson initially billed the taxpayer after claiming he ran up the eye-watering bill enterprise constituency work throughout a household vacation in Morocco. After the story hit the headlines, it then emerged his teenage sons had used the iPad as a hotspot to observe soccer whereas overseas. The Falkirk West MSP was discovered to have breached Holyrood’s code of conduct however has ignored calls to resign. Mr Yousaf has regularly defended Mr Matheson, saying that “respectable individuals could make errors”.
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Michael Matheson admitting his sons racked up the iPad invoice
Learn extra from Sky Information:
Humza Yousaf: His life, political path and controversies
Does the starvation for independence stay in Scotland’s ‘Sure’ cities and cities?
Reflecting on Mr Yousaf’s first yr in cost, Scottish Tory chief Douglas Ross stated it has been “nothing in need of a catastrophe”.
Mr Ross stated: “It is a story of independence obsession, abject failures and damaged guarantees; of a primary minister out of his depth and unable to regulate his feuding, scandal-ridden occasion.
“Humza Yousaf has ignored the actual priorities of Scots – fixing our ailing public providers and rising the economic system – and as a substitute doubled down on the SNP’s fixation with breaking apart the UK, whereas cosying as much as the anti-growth Greens.
“Later this yr voters will get the prospect to solid their verdict on his and the SNP’s dire reign.”
Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar described Mr Yousaf as a “weak chief who’s out of his depth”.
Mr Sarwar added: “Not solely is it clear to the individuals of Scotland that Humza Yousaf has no imaginative and prescient for the long run – even his personal former cupboard colleagues are saying so in public.
“It is a file of disgrace and failure.
“With Humza Yousaf scrambling for a brand new election technique on a weekly foundation, it’s no shock that the individuals of Scotland at the moment are searching for change.”
