Humza Yousaf Succeeds Nicola Sturgeon as Prime Minister of Scotland

In Scotland, Humza Yousaf has been elected as the new party leader of the Scottish National Party. He will most likely succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Prime Minister of Scotland. He will be the first Scottish prime minister of colour and the first prime minister in Western Europe to be Muslim.

Yousaf would continue Sturgeon’s policy and, like his predecessor, advocates the independence of Scotland.

Humza Yousaf, the current Scottish health minister, will be the new leader of the ruling Scottish National Party. That was decided by the party members five weeks after Sturgeon unexpectedly announced her resignation as party leader and prime minister. 72,000 members of the Scottish National Party narrowly elected Yousaf. The Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kate Forbes, just missed out.

Yousaf will also likely become Prime Minister of Scotland, the first person of colour and Muslim to fill the post. The vote on this will only take place tomorrow, but it is very unlikely that the result will be negative.

Yousaf’s policy would be a follow-up to Sturgeon’s policy. Sturgeon failed to gain Scotland’s independence from Britain. However, Yousaf emphasizes that he intends to do so. “We will be the generation that will achieve independence from Scotland,” Yousaf said after announcing the results.

In addition, Yousaf emphasizes that his faith “will not be the basis for his policies”. Unlike his biggest opponent Forbes, Yousaf is in favour of same-sex marriage.