First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf has resigned ahead of a vote of no confidence he was expected to lose in the Scottish Parliament. His left-separatist Scottish National Party (SNP), in power since 2007, had broken its coalition agreement with the Scottish Green Party, who signaled they would support the opposition Scottish Conservative and Labour parties in a vote to oust him.
Facing difficulties in the polls, Yousaf angered the Greens by saying he would scrap goals to slash carbon emissions by 75 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030. These appeared impossible to achieve and were contributing to rising energy bills.
The parties also fell out over transgenderism. The SNP had previously championed self-identification and other pro-trans policies but was politically damaged when such policies resulted in a double rapist transitioning after his arrest and being sent to a women’s prison.
The Greens were angered when the SNP allowed the socialized National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland to stop giving so-called “trans kids” puberty blockers, following the lead of the English NHS.
During his resignation speech, Yousaf said people should “celebrate” his stint in power as an example of successful multiculturalism, noting, “We now live in a UK that has a British-Hindu prime minister, a Muslim mayor of London, a black Welsh first minister and for a little while longer, a Scots Asian first minister.”
Yousaf is best known outside Scotland for a viral speech in the Scottish Parliament, in which he expressed fury at the number of white people with influential jobs in Scotland. He gained international recognition for passing the most draconian anti-speech laws in the West, making “stirring up hatred” a crime. The law is so expansive that police guidance warns it even covers comedy shows.
