Scotland has a new First Minister. After narrowly winning the SNP leadership contest yesterday, Humza Yousaf was today elected as Nicola Sturgeon’s successor with a solid majority in the Scottish Parliament. Yousaf is the first leader from an ethnic minority background and, aged 37, the first Millennial at the top of the Scottish government (meanwhile, the leader of the SNP in Westminster is 34). As he put it in his victory speech: “we will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland.”
Yousaf acknowledged the historic nature of his premiership as a Muslim and grandson of immigrants and contextualised his story within the contributions made by New Scots and their families:
I’m forever thankful that my grandparents made the trip from Punjab to Scotland over 60 years ago. As immigrants to this country who knew barely a word of English, they could not have imagined in their wildest dreams that their grandson would one day be on the cusp of being the next first minister of Scotland. We should all take pride in the fact that today we have sent a clear message that your colour of skin or indeed your faith is not a barrier to leading the country that we all call home. From the Punjab to our parliament, this is a journey over generations, that reminds us we should be celebrating the migrants who contribute so much to our country.
Crucially, Yousaf reaffirmed his commitment to a European Scotland and the Scottish government’s goal for Scotland to rejoin the EU:
I’m a proud Scot and equally a proud European too, and Scotland is a European nation. We will want to return to the European Union and play our part in building a continent that is based on human rights, peace, prosperity and social justice.
Although Humza Yousaf represents a new phase for Scotland as a person, as a politician he was generally viewed as the continuity candidate during the SNP leadership race – among the three candidates he stood out as the most progressive, the one whose values are most closely aligned with those of the SNP/Greens government led by Nicola Sturgeon. Under Yousaf’s premiership, we therefore don’t expect Scotland to change course politically, at least not dramatically so. However, Yousaf’s leadership style may be quite different from Nicola Sturgeon’s, and his relative youth and role as SNP leader may lead him to invite a livelier democratic debate on some issues and offer others an opportunity to potentially exert more influence within the Scottish government – whether they are SNP colleagues or coalition partners from the Green party.
Finally, as we just passed the sad milestone of 20 years after the disastrous Iraq War began, it’s worth pointing out that Humza Yousaf’s political journey started in the wake of the US and UK’s illegal invasion. Unlike both major parties in Westminster, which were all too eager to wage war, the SNP and much of the Scottish population had objections from the start. One more reason why the world would be better off if England followed Scotland’s lead, rather than the other way round!
As for our campaign, while we wait to see what strategy will be chosen for independence by the newly elected leader, we are laying out long term plans to raise awareness among Europeans of the cultural and historical bonds between Scotland and the rest of Europe in the context of the continuous denial of Scottish democracy. You’ll hear more about it soon!
Meanwhile, we wish Humza Yousaf luck in the challenging months ahead!
Europe for Scotland team
