Humza Yousaf has been forced to deny that he is “weak”, “hopeless” and a “lame duck leader heading for the exit door” at an emergency press conference in Edinburgh on Thursday morning (April 25).
The Scottish First Minister faced difficult questions about his position after the SNP governing coalition with the Scottish Greens fell apart.
Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater said in a statement: “By ending the agreement in such a weak and thoroughly hopeless way, Humza Yousaf has signalled that when it comes to political cooperation, he can no longer be trusted”.
Mr Yousaf denied the attack on his leadership and insisted that by dissolving the coalition agreement he had shown “leadership”.
He explained: “This is the ability to say we are taking control as a party and indeed as a government on our priority terms, our priority terms, and that is clearly going to be demonstrated.
“I think it has been demonstrated, actually, in the course of the almost three years we’ve been as part of the Bute House Agreement with the Greens.
“But it will continue to be demonstrated over the coming days, over the coming weeks, and over the coming months.”
The Bute House Agreement was signed by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon following the 2021 Holyrood election and signalled co-operation between the SNP and Greens.
The breakdown puts the SNP into a minority administration for the first time in over a decade.
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Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said in response to the end of the powersharing agreement: “This chaotic and incompetent Government is falling apart before our eyes.
“Humza Yousaf is too weak to hold his own Government together and he is too weak to deliver for Scotland.”
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