SNP leader says he is “confident” of winning the vote as pressure mounts following the decision to scrap the coalition deal with the Greens.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he will fight a vote of no confidence after deciding to withdraw from a coalition agreement and try to form a minority government.
Yousaf, the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), is facing increasing pressure from his political opponents after ending a coalition deal with the Greens earlier this week.
“I’m pretty confident, very confident in fact, that I can win this vote of no confidence,” he told British broadcaster Sky News on Friday.
A day earlier, Yousaf terminated the coalition agreement with the Greens following a dispute last week over the decision to scrap a target to reduce climate-related emissions.
“It is in the best interests of the Scottish people to seek a different arrangement,” he had said, admitting that it would be “tough” to govern as a minority government but promising to work with all parties in Parliament.
But the move prompted the opposition Scottish Conservatives to say they would vote no confidence in the First Minister – and almost all other parties, including Yousaf’s former coalition partners, said they would vote against him.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross also described Yousaf as “a failed first minister”, “weak” and “unfit for office”.
The chapter represents the latest setback for the SNP, which has been hit by internal strife, resignations, allegations of fraud and a decline in support.
“Act of cowardice”
Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Green Party, called Yousaf’s decision to scrap the coalition deal “an act of political cowardice by the SNP, betraying future generations to appease the most reactionary forces in the country”.
She said the party would not support Yousaf in a no-confidence vote.
“We no longer have confidence in a progressive government in Scotland doing the right thing for the climate and nature,” she said.
On Friday, the Scottish Labor Party also said it would table a vote of no confidence next week.
“It would be untenable for the SNP to assume that it can impose another unelected First Minister on Scotland,” leader Anas Sarwar said in a statement, saying an election was needed to give Scotland a “fresh start.”
With the Conservatives, Labor, Greens and Liberal Democrats all signaling they have no confidence in Yousaf, he would need the support of Ash Regan – a former leadership rival to Yousaf who acrimoniously left the SNP last year – to win to remain as First Minister.
If Yousaf loses, Parliament would have 28 days to elect a new first minister before new elections are forced.
The SNP-Greens deal, known as the Bute House Agreement after the Scottish First Minister’s official residence in Edinburgh, was signed in 2021. He gave the SNP a majority in the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.