Humza Yousaf, 37, was elected to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as head of the Scottish Government by members of the Scottish Independence Party (SNP) on Monday March 27. As the first Muslim to lead a major political party in the UK, he must revive a dying pro-independence movement.
Nicola Sturgeon’s successor
Glasgow-born Humza Yousaf was educated at a private school, then studied political science at his hometown university, worked in a call center before becoming an assistant to Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon’s predecessor as leader of the SNP. Member of Parliament since 2011, he has successively held the posts of Minister for Europe, Minister for Transport, Minister for Justice and Minister for Health.
Elected to head the Scottish Independence Party (SNP) on Monday, March 27, he will also become Prime Minister, succeeding Independence Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who surprisingly resigned from her post last February.
“This work is a privilege, but also very difficult,” she confessed, very moved, at the end of her job. Long popular, the man who had known five British Prime Ministers had emerged weakened from a vote on a controversial law allowing sex reassignment surgery from the age of 16 and without medical advice.
Humza Yousaf is a close associate of Nicola Sturgeon. Seen as the favorite to succeed him, he had promised to keep the Prime Minister’s progressive social policies, including same-sex marriage, banning conversion therapy and making gender reassignment recognition easier, which London rejected.
a symbol for minorities
Humza Yousaf is the first Muslim leader of a major political party in Britain. After his victory on Monday, he paid tribute to his paternal grandparents, who came from Pakistan 60 years ago. “They could never have imagined in their wildest dreams that one day their grandson would become the next Prime Minister of Scotland,” he said.
“It reminds us that we (…) should always celebrate the immigrants who contribute so much to our country,” he added, in a thinly veiled jab at the UK government’s desire to tighten asylum conditions in the country.
The new leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), now 37, was sworn in in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language, and in English when he was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011.
new Scottish independence leader
Humza Yousaf takes on the daunting task of reviving a flagging Scottish independence movement. According to a YouGov opinion poll on March 13, 46% of Scots support independence, up from 50% last month. Including the undecided, the proportion drops to 39%. In the 2014 referendum, 45% of Scots voted for independence.
However, independence concerns were revived by Brexit, which was rejected by 62% of Scots, with the SNP seeing a break with London as the route to a return to the European Union.
But in 2022, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled Scotland could not organize a new independence referendum without the consent of London, which opposed it.
“We will be the generation that achieves Scottish independence,” Humza Yousaf promised in his speech on Monday, stressing that “the people” of Scotland “need independence now more than ever”.