Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and former minister Ash Regan become first candidates to officially announce SNP leadership bids after Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation
- Mr Yousaf said he believes he is the right person for ‘the top job in the country’
- Ms Regan said country ‘needs to bring back unity’ and she is right person to do it
Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and former minister Ash Regan have announced they will stand to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader.
Mr Yousaf, announcing his leadership bid in the Sunday Mail, said he had been through a ‘rollercoaster of emotions’ since Ms Sturgeon announced her resignation.
The SNP has said it will choose a new leader within six weeks through a ballot of its members, which will close on March 27.
Sturgeon, 52, said she was not leaving politics and that she would stay on until a successor has been picked.
Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf (pictured last month) has announced he will stand to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader. He said: ‘You’ve got to put yourself forward if you think you’re the best person for the job. And I do’
Ash Regan, (pictured last November) announcing her bid for SNP leader, said: ‘We need to bring back unity, draw a line under certain things and move past them. I believe I am the person to do that’
Mr Yousaf and Ms Regan are the first candidates to declare officially their intention to stand.
‘You’ve got to put yourself forward if you think you’re the best person for the job. And I do,’ Mr Yousaf, 37, said. ‘This is the top job in the country, and it needs somebody who has experience.’
The Glasgow Pollok MSP had been mulling over the possibility of succeeding Ms Sturgeon after her shock announcement this week.
Mr Yousaf, who entered Holyrood in 2011 and has been a perennial frontbencher in every SNP administration since, has long been viewed as a potential successor to Ms Sturgeon in Bute House.
But recent years have seen him mired in the controversy surrounding the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill – which faced criticisms over its impact on freedom of expression – and his stewardship of the NHS, which faced the hardest winter in its history in recent months.
In the Sunday Mail, Ms Regan, 48, said: ‘We need to bring back unity, draw a line under certain things and move past them. I believe I am the person to do that.
‘The electorate expect the Scottish Government to focus on things that are important to them.
‘That means the NHS which is still struggling to get back on its feet after the pandemic. People expect a First Minister to concentrate on boosting the economy, creating jobs and helping them deal with the cost-of-living crisis.’
The former community safety minister quit her post in protest against the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and has since become an outspoken critic of the legislation.
The SNP has said it will choose a new leader within six weeks through a ballot of its members, which will close on March 27. Nicola Sturgeon (pictured in 2014) said she was not leaving politics and that she would stay on until a successor has been picked
Following her shock announcement to stand down, Ms Sturgeon reportedly held a series of calls with senior party figures, including Mr Swinney, ex-Westminster leader Mr Blackford and SNP President Mr Russell. She is pictured announcing her resignation on Wednesday
Since the First Minister’s announcement last week that she would stand down from the role, Ms Regan has called for SNP members who left in the past year to be given a vote in the leadership race – a move described as ‘preposterous’ by Deputy First Minister John Swinney.
Mr Swinney has ruled himself out to be next the leader, as did Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader.
Actor Brian Cox had previously announced his support for Angus Robertson, saying he would ‘make a great leader’.
He said on BBC’s Newscast: ‘I have a lot of respect for Angus Robertson. He’s the Culture Secretary at the moment, but has a scope which is quite interesting.
‘He’s a very strong European and has lots of connections because his mother was German. So there’s a very strong European connection for Angus. But he also has a total grasp of the situation, so I think he would make a strong leader.’
Mr Robertson has yet to confirm if he will make a bid for the leadership, but bookies have reported him as one of the early favourites for the job.
Other potential candidates yet to announce include Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and Mairi McAllan.
Angus Robertson (pictured last month) has yet to confirm if he will make a bid for the leadership, but bookies have reported him as one of the early favourites for the job
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Sir Keir will seek to capitalise on Ms Sturgeon’s departure by appealing to Scottish voters who had given up on his party, declaring: ‘A Labour government is coming’
Insiders told The Scottish Mail on Sunday that Ms Sturgeon and her allies Mr Swinney, Ian Blackford and Michael Russell are desperate to keep their hands on the reins of power within the party.
Just hours after her resignation last week, the four SNP stalwarts are understood to have had a series of phone calls to discuss a suitable successor as they try to preserve the outgoing First Minister’s legacy.
It was also claimed yesterday that supporters of Ms Sturgeon devised a ‘significantly shorter’ leadership contest to block Ms Forbes from the top job.
Ms Forbes, 32, previously said she intends to return to frontline politics in the April recess after her maternity leave.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday understands that following her shock announcement to stand down, Ms Sturgeon held a series of calls with senior party figures, including Mr Swinney, ex-Westminster leader Mr Blackford and SNP President Mr Russell.
All are said to have agreed they could continue to have sway over the future running of the party, offering their wealth of experience to whoever comes next – provided the right candidate is put in place.
Ms Sturgeon’s unexpected exit has also left a question mark over the SNP’s fight for independence as the Westminster government has blocked its attempts to hold a second vote after a 2014 referendum in which Scotland voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to remain part of the United Kingdom.
Pictured: Nicola Sturgeon arrives at her home following resigning as Scotland’s First Minister on Thursday
Ms Sturgeon’s unexpected exit has also left a question mark over the SNP’s fight for independence. Pictured: Unionist supporters celebrate the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon in George Square, Glasgow on February 15
The loss of Sturgeon, regarded by many as the best political communicator in Britain, also has the potential to influence the outcome of the next national election if it helps the opposition Labour Party to regain some of the seats it once held in Scotland.
Candidates have until Friday to receive more than the threshold of 100 nominations from at least 20 local branches.
If more than one candidate passes that mark, an election will be triggered, culminating on March 27.
The SNP’s national executive committee decided on Thursday evening the contest to select a successor would end after six weeks, compared to the previously contested race in 2004 which took 11 weeks.
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