You have to admire the man’s brass neck. Announcing his decision to end the power-sharing agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens yesterday, First Minister Humza Yousaf was as close to the model of reason as he could manage.
With almost convincing sincerity, he spoke of his desire to move forward, cooperating with any and all political parties in the interests of Scotland.
This, he said, was a new beginning for the SNP. ‘A parliament of minorities,’ said Mr Yousaf, ‘need not be a parliament of enemies.’
This new 2.0 update of the Humza Yousaf model is radically different to the one it replaces.
The First Minister now asks us to accept him as a politician of pragmatism and good faith, as an honest broker who’ll put country before party. Henceforth, he will seek to work with colleagues across the chamber. He insists he’s well used to working constructively with opposition parties.
This, let us not forget, is the same man who, just two days before was feigning outrage because the UK Government hadn’t legislated on Scotland’s behalf on the matter of exonerating sub-postmasters wrongly convicted during the Horizon scandal.
Mr Yousaf – knowing full well that Scottish sub-postmasters were convicted under a devolved Scottish justice system – cynically tried to create division out of thin air.
The truth, as he knew when he spoke, is that the Scottish Government had already recognised the need for its action on this matter.
Had the UK Government announced that it did plan to legislate on Scotland’s behalf, Mr Yousaf would have been performatively outraged about a ‘Westminster power grab’.
So, opposition politicians may be forgiven for taking with a fistful of salt Mr Yousaf’s pledge that he stands ready to work constructively with them. His track record in this area is poor, indeed.
When, for example, Conservative MSPs – along with a handful of members of other parties willing to defy the threats and attacks of gender ideologues – raised legitimate concerns about how plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act might impact on women’s rights to same sex spaces, Mr Yousaf was happy to dismiss their fears. He and his colleagues gaslit feminists who worried about rapists being placed in women’s prisons, sneering at their concerns, right up until the point that such an outrage took place.
When Scottish Secretary Alister Jack stepped in to block the Scottish Government’s legislation on the entirely reasonable grounds that it was incompatible with the UK-wide Equality Act, Mr Yousaf remained defiant. Indeed, one of his first decisions on becoming First Minister was to press ahead with a doomed – and costly – legal challenge.
MSPs smeared during that time as bigots and transphobes by allies of the First Minister might wonder whether the new improved Humza Yousaf is someone to be trusted. And if the First Minister can expect a frosty reception from the Conservatives, he’s unlikely to enjoy better relations with Scottish Labour.
Mr Yousaf, after all, has spent much of the past year declaring Labour indistinguishable from the Tories.
With Labour on the rise while the SNP slides, why would the party’s Scottish leader be interested in reaching out to help the First Minister.
Of course, one need not be a professional politician to have doubts about Mr Yousaf’s sincerity.
Yesterday’s First Minister with all his talk of cooperation across party lines was unrecognisable as the man who, just last Saturday, led a flag-waving march of nationalist ideologues through the streets of Glasgow. Less than a week ago, Mr Yousaf was happy to style himself the great champion of the nationalist fringes. Are we really to believe he has suddenly realised that, in fact, he cares about the things that matter to ordinary Scottish families?
If Mr Yousaf had wished to retain any kind of moral authority over the decision to end the SNP’s pact with the Greens, he would have acted long ago. Perhaps he could have scrapped the Bute House Agreement last year when it became clear that Lorna Slater had made a mess of establishing a deposit return scheme.
Or maybe he could have acted when the Greens’ plan to ban human activity in 10 per cent of Scottish waters fell apart.
The last point at which Mr Yousaf could have ended the BHA with any dignity came with the Greens’ disgusting reaction to the findings of Dr Hilary Cass, the leading paediatrician commissioned to review NHS treatment for gender confused children and young people in England.
The Cass Review – a serious piece of research conducted over four years – contained devastating conclusions about the safety of certain treatments. Dr Cass’s work was met with outrage from trans rights activists who demanded that these untested drugs should still be made available.
This was the point at which serious leading politicians had a moral obligation to speak up. Dr Cass’s report may have made difficult reading for gender ideologues but the science within was – and remains – more important than their feelings.
Asked about the Cass review on BBC One Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Harvie said he had seen too many criticisms of the work for him to be able to say he accepted it was a ‘valid scientific document’.
In the name of public safety, Mr Yousaf should have removed Mr Harvie for spreading doubt about such an important piece of research.
Instead, the First Minster continued to praise Mr Harvie, even as the Scottish Greens began organising a meeting at which their members would be invited to vote on the future of the Bute House Agreement.
Mr Yousaf kicked the Greens out of Government to save his own skin. He dumped his partners before they dumped him.
Hell, the First Minister is now discovering, has no fury like a Green politician scorned.
Mr Yousaf was accused in a statement from Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater of betraying future generations with his decision.
With the Greens in combative mode, Mr Yousaf’s days in office may now be numbered.
The Scottish Conservatives yesterday announced a vote of no confidence in the First Minister. Labour and the Liberal Democrats signalled their intention to back it. By close of business, the Greens had confirmed they, too, would vote against Mr Yousaf’s First Ministership.
If he is to win that vote, Humza Yousaf will now have to persuade Ash Regan, who defected from the SNP to Alex Salmond’s Alba Party last year, to rally behind him.
It may, given relations between Mr Salmond and the SNP, be time for Humza Yousaf to start inviting removal companies to give him a quote for clearing Bute House.
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Euan Mccolm
