FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
LONDON – He is the first Muslim of Asian descent to lead Scotland: Humza Yousaf, less than 38 years old, was elected leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party today and will be confirmed as Prime Minister of the Edinburgh government tomorrow.
Yousaf succeeds Nicola Sturgeon, who unexpectedly resigned in January after more than eight years in power: the new leader was portrayed as a candidate for continuity, a favorite of the party establishment. Still, he narrowly edged out his competitor Kate Forbes, a new 32-year-old face, who has been penalized by her conservative Christian beliefs, which she sees as anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion.
The new Scottish Prime Minister immediately announced that he wanted to shift into “fifth gear” on the road to independence: he would immediately ask London for a new referendum and was convinced that secession from the United Kingdom could be achieved within five years, albeit albeit what is not clear is that since the referendum has to be approved by the British government, it has no intention of doing so.
“I am a proud Scot and also a proud European – Yousaf said in his first speech – we want to return to the European Union.” But it is interesting that his ambitions with a British Prime Minister, also of Asian descent, the Hindu Rishi Sunak, will clash: both the foremost representatives of an ethnic minority at the head of their respective governments.
Yousaf belongs to a generation in which Islamic and Scottish identities merge seamlessly: when elected to Parliament he was sworn in Urdu, but at the same time wore the kilt, the traditional kilt. At 16, after the attacks on the Twin Towers, he became aware of himself and politics, he said, but at university he campaigned for independence. He entered politics immediately after graduating, and for this reason he is accused of never having had a real job. The biggest criticism, however, concerns his meager results in government, where he has been accused of being the worst health minister in Scottish history.
But now her test will be independence, a test Nicola Sturgeon failed spectacularly: And Yousaf also lacks the leadership and communication skills of the woman who preceded him.
The problem is that secessionism has reached an impasse: last December, the UK Supreme Court rejected the hypothesis that Edinburgh could organize a referendum on its own. At that time, Nicola Sturgeon had de facto called the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for the end of 2024, as a referendum: a constitutionally questionable attitude that had also left many nationalist exponents at a loss. Add to that the debacle surrounding the Gender Identification Act, which ultimately forced Sturgeon to resign, leaving a divided and disoriented party that is unlikely to recover under Yousaf. Even more so when you consider that public opinion’s support for independence is pinned below 50 percent: it will not be Yousaf who will lead his country out of the UK.