Deputy First Minister reflects on 'difficult day' as Humza Yousaf resigns #politics #news #update

sh Robinson what do you make of humza YF standing down just a few days after he said he was going to lead the party into the next election well today was of was a very difficult day I thought his statement was very dignified uh I thought he gave a very personal account of what it had meant to him being first Minister breaking the mold the first first Minister from an ethnic minority background and of course he has shown leadership on the world stage around the humanity Ian crisis in Gaza among other issues so it was a a difficult day but I think he handled himself with with great dignity but also it was his miscalculation that led him to this it was him that broke the government and of course the mark of the man himself is that he's owned that and he has said it was a miscalculation of misjudgment and of course uh he's paying the ultimate price for that and uh you know he he is one of his own worst critics in that respect but you know we are where we are and it's important that that the party now moves on you say we are where we are where are we what is his legacy where does he leave the SNP and the Scottish government well actually when you look at the things that he's achieved over the last year if you look at 100,000 children being lifted out of poverty making sure that we continue with those really important uh policies H lots of things happening on the green energy front and of course his leadership over Gaza when other politicians have been quite frankly quite me mouth so he has a lot to look back on that he can be very proud of but he said he'd be the first activist you you you've seen the the biggest swing to labor in a byelection in Scotland under his leadership well look uh we need to rebuild the trust of the Scottish people we need to make sure that H in here in the Parliament and the Scottish government will need to focus on priorities on delivery we've got some work to do and I think we all acknowledge that you party criticized the conservatives at Westminster for the revolving door of prime ministers You' got the same revolving door of first ministers in Scotland now haven't you well of course we have a a fixed term election here in Scotland so there would if there was an election now there'd be another election in two years time plus if you look at the Mandate we had but you don't think there's going to be an election now do you no uh absolutely we have a mandate is that part of the reasoning behind them quitting so that there's no chance of that early election well we have a mandate from 2021 actually one that's almost a majority in this Parliament so we have way in excess in terms of the number of msps Beyond any other party so it falls to us as our responsibility to make sure that we have a sensible and orderly transition and that we bring forward a candidate for first Minister and it needs to be someone I think that can perhaps try to reset some of the tone in here I know that will be a challenge but to build relationships and to try work a bit more across the parliament John swiny well look there are a number of names that are you being speculated upon but his is the main name isn't it in the frame some of the other potential candidates have already backed him well look I'm not going to back anyone during this campaign I I'm going to get on with the job of Deputy first Minister there's a lot happening legislation coming forward on the post office and other really important matters that we'll need to but you wouldn't be opposed to John S as leader would you I've got a huge respect for for John spinny I've worked with him for a number of years and he has a a lot of skills and talents and experience he didn't want to do it this time last year what's changed is it just the party calling on him and has lot calling on his loyalty to serve well that will be a judgment for John around how he feels where he is uh where the party is where the government is where the country is and you know it'll be a judgment for him about whether he feels it's the right time we need to bring the party together we need to unify the party we need to try to reset the tone in Parliament so it needs to be somebody who can do that and I'm sure John will be contemplating whether he's got the right skills and experience to to be that person as I say though I won't be endorsing anyone H Yousef suggested today that Scotland was closer to Independence than ever it doesn't feel that way to an awful lot of people a lot of people who didn't think that he was delivering in the independence front as SNP leader well look if you look at the polls of support for Independence they're consistently high and actually higher than support for the SNP at the moment so which has been falling under his leadership we've got work to do to make sure that we get back that Independence support because only through the SNP will we deliver Independence so we've got work to do and the new leader will have work to do sh Robson thanks for joining us in Scotland tonight thank you

Channel: STV News

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Keywords: STV, STV News, Scottish Television, Scottish News

Id: i-OPW2OGqEc

Length: 5min 3sec (303 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024