Mr Yusuf needs the support of Ash Regan, the former SNP party member who challenged him to become party leader last summer before defecting to October Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Humza Yousuf's fate in a no-confidence vote rests in the hands of Alex Salmond's Alba party as SNP sources said the First Minister was a «dead man walking».
On Thursday Mr Yousaf decided to abandon the SNP's power-sharing agreement with the Greens, a move that backfired, prompting Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, to table a motion of no confidence in the First Minister.
The decisive vote in the poll will belong to Ash Regan, the only MP from Salmond's party. The former First Minister said on Thursday that Ms Regan is now the «most powerful» member of the Scottish Parliament.
If the Greens, Labor and Lib Dems support the Tories' no-confidence vote as expected, it will will happen. will be supported by 64 deputies. With the Scottish National Party holding 63 seats at Holyrood, Ms Regan's vote could see Mr Yousaf remain in office.
Nationalist sources said Mr Yousaf's position was untenable regardless of whether he succeeds in winning a vote of confidence next week, calling him a «dead man walking».
They argued he would either have to leave immediately resign if he loses the vote. mistrust, otherwise he will suffer such serious political damage if he wins by one or two votes that he will have to resign anyway.
Insiders said he appeared to have grossly misjudged the strength of the Greens' reaction after he excluded them from the coalition agreement.
However, Mr Yousaf's spokesman denied reports that he considered resigning before the vote.
On Thursday, Mr Salmond warned Mr Yusuf that he would go down in history as «Humza Short «if he responded to a number of Ms. Regan's demands.
Ms Regan, a former candidate for leadership of the Scottish National Party, plans to write to the First Minister on Friday with a list of «concerns», including the Scottish Government's transgender agenda and lack of progress on independence.
< p> If Mr Yousaf loses the vote, which is expected on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, he is expected to step down just a year after succeeding Nicola Sturgeon. The Scottish Parliament will have 28 days to vote on a new First Minister.
If MSPs cannot reach an agreement, an election will have to be held at Holyrood. However, this is likely to be disastrous for the SNP as the party suffers a setback in the polls and struggles to raise funds for the upcoming general election campaign.
Mr Salmond said Humza's «fate will be depend on the answer» to Ms. Regan's Letter.
Alba insiders said Ms Regan could press Mr Yusuf to implement the recommendations of the Cass review into gender identity services for children in full.
Dr Hilary Cass, one of the UK's most eminent pediatricians, in her The report found that the evidence that young people and children can change gender is based on weak foundations and that there is no convincing evidence of the long-term results of treatments such as puberty blockers given to children.
Her findings were rejected by the Scottish Greens.
Alba insiders also said Ms Regan wanted Mr Yousaf to hold a Scotland-wide referendum on whether Holyrood should be given legislative powers to hold another independence vote.
Ms' demands It marked an extraordinary turn of fortune for Regan after she came third to Mr Yousaf in last year's SNP leadership contest. During her subsequent defection to Alba, the First Minister said it was “not such a big loss.”
Mr Yousaf found himself a political hostage to Mr Salmond's party at the end of a dramatic day that began with his abandonment of a power-sharing deal with the Greens.
Greens members were due to vote in favor next month whether they should remain in the Scottish Government after it abandoned its climate change target.
Less than 48 hours after he approved the power-sharing deal, the First Minister pulled off an extraordinary U-turn and tore it up. He said he would instead lead a minority government.
Speaking at a press conference at his official residence at Bute House, he repeatedly denied he was a «weak» leader who had been forced to end the coalition by senior nationalists. deeply dissatisfied with the arrangement.
Mr Yousaf also denied that he was «headed for the exit» and was a «lame duck leader» who was forced to abandon the deal against his own better judgment.
Scottish Green Party co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvey speak to the press after Mr Yousaf terminated the Bute House agreement with immediate effect entry into force. Photo: Leslie Martin/PA Wire
SNP insiders claimed Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster and one of the leading candidates to replace Mr Yousaf, played a key role in the U-turn. His South Aberdeen residence is the center of the oil and gas industry and he was seen at Holyrood on Wednesday.
The First Minister insisted the upcoming Green vote meant the deal no longer brought «stability» and the coalition had «played his goal.»
But angry Greens accused him of an «act of political cowardice» and said the «weakness and utter hopelessness» of his actions demonstrated that «he can no longer be trusted.»
Patrick Harvey, the party's co-leader and one of the ministers ousted from government, said Mr Yousaf had made a «complete U-turn» and had «capitulated» to «the most reactionary, backward forces within the Scottish National Party».
Hours later, the Scottish Greens retaliated by announcing that their seven MPs had unanimously decided to support a motion of no confidence in the Tories.
Mr Harvey said: “It is clear that Humza Yousaf has decided to burn bridges with the pro-progressive majority. independence, which was created in the Bute House Agreement.
“If this is a simple matter of confidence in the First Minister, then I fear, with a sincere and heavy heart, we will have to vote that we have no confidence in him.” Labor and the Liberal Democrats also confirmed they would support the motion tabled by Mr Ross, saying «Parliament does not have confidence in the First Minister in light of his failures in government.»
This meant that the party received the support of the parties, which together have 64 MPs, while 63 SNP MPs opposed, making Ms Regan's vote decisive.
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