Given the reception Yousaf got from journalists when he held a press conference yesterday, this decision is not surprising.
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Humza Yousaf suggesting what he needs to do to secure her support in the no confidence vote next week.
As well as asking for assurances relating to the rights of women and “competent governance”, she is asking Yousaf to support her proposed Scottish parliament powers referendum bill. This is a reference to an Alba party plan to get round the fact that Westminster can stop the Scottish government holding a referendum on independence by instead getting the Scottish government to hold a referendum on whether it should have the power to hold an independence referendum. Alba believes Westminster would not be able to stop such a vote.
Conservatives are expected to be doing very badly and Rishi Sunak’s leadership will be on the line. Many Tory think Sunak could be facing a no confidence vote within days.
And so it must be some relief in Downing Street that there is another political leader in the UK in even more trouble than Sunak. Humza Yousaf, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister, is facing an actual no confidence vote next week, not just a hypothetical one, and, as Severin Carrell explains in our overnight story, there is a real chance he could be out of his job within days.
To win the no confidence vote, Yousaf needs to secure the support of Ash Regan, a former SNP MSP who came third in the leadership contest Yousaf won last year and who subsequently defected to Alba, Alex Salmond’s party. Alba is a bit more aggressively pro-independence than the SNP, and more socially conservative (or less “woke”, as critics of the SNP might say).
Late last night, in an interview with the BBC’s World Tonight, Regan gave her first proper indication of what Yousaf will need to do to secure her vote. She told the programme:
I have written to the first minister today with a number of issues that I’ve raised with him on progress made towards independence, on how he will defend the rights of women and children and a return to competent governance.
My vote will depend on really what Humza comes back with in response to my letter.
I’m not setting out specific demands as such, I’m putting the ball into Humza’s court for him to come back to me and explain to me how he will make progress in a couple of these areas, particularly around the return to a competent government.
She said the SNP used to be a competent government. But she went on:
Unfortunately it has lost its focus over the last few years, it has gone down pursuing some policies that are not popular with the public, many of those were policies that really stemmed from the coalition agreement with the Green party.
On the basis of this interview, it does not seem impossible to imagine Yousaf saying or doing enough to secure her vote. Yousaf is scheduled to be giving a speech later, so we may hear more from him on this as the day goes on.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: MPs debate private members bill, starting with one introduced by Maria Miller requiring the government to give higher diplomatic status to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
9.45am: Angela van den Bogard, a former Post Office executive, resumes giving evidence to the Post Office Horizon inquiry.
Morning: Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, are on a visit in the north-east of England highlighting cost of living issues. They are giving interviews. Rishi Sunak is visiting a factory in Hertfordshire, but he is not expected to speak to reporters.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Noon: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, is due to give a speech at Strathclyde University.
And David Cameron, the foreign secretary, is in Mongolia, on the final day of his tour of Central Asia.
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Source: theguardian.com
