Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, resigned on Monday in a fresh setback for his Scottish National Party, which has been engulfed in a slow-burning crisis over a funding scandal that erupted after a popular leader, Nicola Sturgeon, stepped down last year
The New York Times reports.
Mr. Yousaf’s departure had looked increasingly inevitable after he gambled last week by ending a power-sharing deal with the Scottish Green Party.
The two parties had clashed over climate goals and trans rights, but his abrupt decision angered the Greens and left him at the head of a minority government without obvious allies. His opponents then pressed for two motions of no confidence, which are expected to take place later this week.
Having explored his options over several fraught days, Mr. Yousaf, who was Scotland’s first Muslim leader, announced his plan to quit in a speech on Monday at Bute House in Edinburgh, the official residence of the Scottish first minister.
“I have concluded that repairing our relationships across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm,” Mr. Yousaf said in a short and at times emotional statement.
He admitted that he had “clearly underestimated the level of hurt and upset” that his abrupt decision to end the coalition had caused, and said he would continue as first minister — the head of the Scottish government — until his successor was elected.
His resignation was the latest twist in a dramatic change in fortune for the S.N.P., which has dominated the country’s politics for more than a decade and which campaigns for Scottish independence.
