Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/ LONDON: Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s Health Minister, has emerged as a front-runner in a race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the country’s first minister.
Sturgeon, 52, shocked many in British politics when she resigned last week. She said she had become too divisive and was too tired to continue after more than eight years as leader of the SNP and the Scottish Parliament.
Yousaf, Scotland’s most prominent Muslim politician, was the first to declare his intention to run for slot. He and Sturgeon agree on many policies, and his chances of becoming leader improved on Monday morning when culture secretary Angus Robertson, 53, announced he would not run.
John Swinney, first deputy minister
The deputy first minister and former leader of the SNP in the early 2000s, John Swinney, 58, ruled himself out on Thursday, saying his decision not to run for the slot was intended to create space for a “fresh perspective” on the governing party’s goals, including its policy on pursuing Scottish independence from the United Kingdom (UK).
As a result of those two announcements, the leadership race is shaping up to be a two-candidate race between Yousaf, 37, and Kate Forbes, 32, the more socially conservative finance secretary of the party, who confirmed her intention to succeed Sturgeon in a message posted on Twitter.
Yousaf launched his campaign on Monday in Clydebank, a town about 8 miles west of Glasgow that was once known for its shipbuilding history because his grandfather, Mohammed Yousaf, got his first job in Scotland after emigrating in 1962 at the massive Singer sewing machine factory, which was once a major employer for the town.
He praised Scotland’s inclusive, diverse culture, claiming that his candidature was proof of this. He said his grandfather “couldn’t have imagined, not even in his wildest dreams, that his grandson would be running for the slot of the first minister of Scotland.”
The SNP has said it will choose its new leader within six weeks through a ballot of its members, with the deadline being March 27.
Yousaf’s father, Muzaffar, was born in Mian Channu, Punjab, Pakistan, and emigrated to Glasgow with his family in the 1960s, and worked as an accountant. His mother, Shaaista Bhutta, was born in Kenya to a family of South Asian descent that later emigrated to Scotland.
