THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL Party has a new leader in Humza Yousaf, who has been elected today to replace Nicola Sturgeon as she steps down.

Party members voted for Yousaf to be their next leader after a five-week campaign that saw him win out over fellow candidates Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.

Yousaf, Scotland’s current Health Secretary, is now set to become the country’s First Minister and has promised to “deliver independence”.

Here’s everything you need to know about the country’s new leader. 

From office manager to Health Secretary

Yousaf studied politics at Glasgow University and began working in politics as an office manager for the SNP’s Bashir Ahmad, the first Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) from an Asian and Muslim background. Following Ahmad’s death in 2009, Yousaf went on to work for other MSPs, including Nicola Sturgeon.

He was elected as an MSP himself in Glasgow in 2011 and has served in the parliament continuously since. He took his oath first in English and then in Urdu, reflecting his Scottish and Pakistani heritage; his father, who is from Pakistan, and his mother, from Kenya, moved to the UK in the 1960s. 

Yousaf’s first ministerial appointment was in 2012, when he was named as minister for external affairs and international development.

He stayed on in a junior ministerial role when Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister in 2014 and was later promoted to the transport portfolio and then justice. While serving as Justice Secretary, he introduced a Hate Crime Bill to legislate for protections for minority groups.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Yousaf took over the role of Health Secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle in 2021. He revealed that the first call he received after being given the position was from his mother, who asked: “What have you done to annoy Nicola?”

During his time in the role, he has faced attacks from opposition members over the performance of the NHS, particularly waiting times in emergency departments.

On the issue of gender recognition reform, which has seen rare divisions emerge in the SNP, he pledged to fight the UK Government’s blocking of legislation.

Election promises

In hustings and TV debates during the leadership campaign, Yousaf was repeatedly challenged for being the “continuity candidate” – a label he simultaneously shunned and embraced.

He told audiences he would be his “own man” as first minister but added that continuing the election success of Nicola Sturgeon would not be a negative. He also regularly took veiled swipes at his rivals by stressing the need to continue the party’s “progressive agenda”.

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Yousaf wants to publish papers aimed at refreshing the case for Scottish independence, which were set in motion by Sturgeon,  “sooner rather than later”, including a fiscal assessment which was not included in the most recent paper on the economy.

Sturgeon planned to have a special conference to decide exact details of her “de facto referendum” strategy, but resigned before it could take place. Yousaf has said party members should debate the next steps in a series of regional assemblies. 

He said he would accelerate the extension of free childcare to one and two-year-olds, spending about £100 million on this in the next financial year. He also promised to work with the Scottish Football Association to ensure young people from deprived backgrounds can access free football club membership. 

He said he would challenge the UK Government’s block on Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, initially saying he would do so on the principle of defending devolution. He later said that if the Lord Advocate – the Scottish government’s chief legal advisor – told him the case was unwinnable, he would not go ahead with the challenge.

Small producers would be given exemptions from a planned deposit-return scheme, a recycling initiative that has received pushback from some business groups, Yousaf said.

He was in line with other candidates who all agreed during a debate that an independent Scotland would maintain defence spending at the Nato target of 2%.