After Humza Yousaf resigns, Scotland needs a Holyrood election to avoid getting Rishi Sunak-style lame duck as First Minister – Scotsman comment

Someone inoffensive enough to put together a coalition with the Scottish Greens that also placates the SNP’s ‘Fergus Ewing wing’ is likely to be an ineffectual leader

During Humza Yousaf’s campaign to become First Minister just over a year ago, he was famously upbraided by rival candidate Kate Forbes, who told him in one debate: “When you were a transport minister, the trains were never on time. When you were justice minister, the police were strained to breaking point and now as health minister, we've got record-high waiting times."

To that list of failures, we can now add First Minister. It is hard to think of a politician who has shot themselves in the foot quite so spectacularly. Yousaf thought he was demonstrating his political strength when he broke the SNP’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens, but he ended up fatally weakening his own position.

The dramatic manner of his dismissal of Green co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie from his government appears to have contributed to their anger and fuelled their determination not to work with him again. Why Yousaf hadn’t factored this into his thinking and had no fall-back plan is hard to fathom.

Politics a Darwinian business

The departure of someone of such poor judgment is no great loss. This may sound harsh, particularly to those moved by Yousaf’s display of genuine emotion during his resignation speech. He is, by all accounts, a decent and likeable person, but politics is a Darwinian business, and it has to be if the country’s interests are to be served.

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Humza Yousaf leaves after announcing his resignation as First Minister (Picture: Andrew Milligan/pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak is the third Prime Minister to rely on the mandate won in 2019 by Boris Johnson, and his lack of authority over his own party is obvious, even though he correctly warned about the consequences of Liz Truss’s disastrous policies. If he had ever managed to win an election, he would have had much greater power.

Scotland is now set to get a third First Minister to rely on the mandate won by the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon in 2021, and whoever gets the job is likely to suffer similar problems as Sunak. Only victory in general elections – not internal party stitch-ups or party-members-only votes – command the type of respect that all leaders need.

The key moments, trials and tribulations of Humza Yousaf’s time in office

MSPs in need of instructions

Someone inoffensive enough to put together a coalition with the Scottish Greens that also placates the SNP’s ‘Fergus Ewing wing’ is likely to be an ineffectual, lame duck leader whose focus is not on running the country but keeping the government going. John Swinney could perhaps be a caretaker but he is not the dynamic figure that Scotland needs.

Two more years of lengthening NHS waiting lists, educational decline, lack of progress on environmental issues – the list goes on – as politicians continue to squabble among themselves would simply not be good enough. The Scottish Parliament is crying out for instructions from the people they work for and that means only one thing.

The Scotsman called for a general election after Sunak became Prime Minister and, in much the same vein, we are again calling for an election to help our elected representatives at Holyrood sort themselves out. Some may groan at the prospect, particularly as a UK general election looms, but the political situation in Scotland has changed beyond all recognition from the circumstances of 2021.

This country has a real and pressing need for a political leader with the power and the confidence that an electoral mandate brings to make things happen. Waiting until 2026 to get one will only see public services fall into an even worse state. Sunak’s instinct has been to hang on, but he’s overstayed his welcome and that’s starting to make things worse for the Conservatives. Two more years of chaos hardly bears thinking about.