Humza Yousaf could quit as Scotland’s first minister as early as today, Sky News reports.
A senior source said the SNP leader could “announce his departure” as early as today ahead of a key vote of no confidence later this week.
Mr. Yousaf faces two votes of no confidence at Holyrood in the coming days after the collapse of a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens on Thursday. Mr. Yousaf, 39, who now heads a minority administration in Edinburgh, sacked the Greens on Thursday and they joined the opposition in confirming they would vote for his resignation.
The plan was to hold talks with the Alba Party, which is led by its bitter rival Alex Salmond. The party’s sole member, Ash Regan, who defected from the SNP last October, was to cast the deciding vote and determine Mr. Yousaf’s future.
The pair were due to meet this week and Ms. Regan brought a set of demands as the price for agreeing. But some senior figures in the SNP have said publicly and privately that it would be an electoral disaster and seriously damage the nationalist cause.
The Alba Party’s Westminster leader, MP Neale Hanvey, told Sky News he thinks Mr Yousaf’s “hand is being forced from within the SNP”. He claimed:
It seems that the internal manoeuvrings within the SNP have made it impossible for the First Minister to continue. I don’t think he would be even considering resigning if he had the support of his parliamentary group and I think reading between the lines, that’s not something that he can depend on now and that’s possibly why he’s been forced to seriously consider resigning.
