Scotland

Kate Forbes has yet to throw her hat into the ring for the SNP leadership race, but already the campaign is underway to block her. As in last year’s election, when Forbes ran close against Humza Yousaf, she is being attacked for her religious beliefs and opposition to transgender ideology. Forbes is being portrayed on social media as ‘the candidate for the 19th Century’ The SNP leadership is turning into another ‘witch hunt,’ according to the SNP MP Joanna Cherry. The reason? Forbes has the temerity to be a practicing Christian and a member of the deeply conservative Free Church of Scotland. She says she would not have voted for

None of the candidates for the SNP leadership has declared yet, but it is shaping up to be a classic two horse race between the former leader, and Nicola Sturgeon bag man, John Swinney and the socially conservative former finance secretary, Kate Forbes. But in this race, they are both losers before they start. To turn to a chess metaphor, the SNP is caught in a zugzwang: they have to make a move but every move puts them in a worse position.  Kate Forbes is – shock – a practising Christian First: the veteran ‘safe pair of hands’, John Swinney. He’s the not-so-fresh face of the ‘old guard’ who effectively blocked Humza

Humza Yousaf has announced his resignation as First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party. His time was short, but he’s overseen a dramatic change in the party he’ll now cease to lead: a discipline once revered by opponents has given way to a party in open dissent. As he prepares to leave the political stage what can Scotland remember him for? Yousaf, who became an MSP in 2011, rose quickly to the top job in Scottish politics. He first served as a minister under Alex Salmond within a year of his election. He was subsequently transport minister in 2017 when Nicola Sturgeon launched the Glen Sannox ferry onto

Scotland’s beleaguered First Minister Humza Yousaf is reportedly considering his position this morning, despite insisting on Friday that he would not resign from the post and intended ‘to win the vote of no confidence’. Hapless Yousaf made his bed on Wednesday morning by U-turning on the Bute House Agreement and ditching his coalition partners – after first U-turning on a key government climate target. Has he been swapping notes with Sir Keir Starmer?  The First Minister left in his wake a rather furious septet of eco-activists who now plan to form an unlikely alliance with the Tories, backing Douglas Ross’s no confidence motion in Yousaf. Meanwhile, the Scottish Labour party

If the Scottish Greens are good at anything, it’s making every issue about themselves. While the First Minister of Scotland faces two votes of no confidence next week — one in his own leadership and another in the SNP government — his party’s former coalition partners continue to vent their anger at the breakdown of the Bute House Agreement on the airwaves. As though a scorned lover, Patrick Harvie’s barmy army has used most of the last 36 hours to release embittered statements about their abrupt exit from government. After Yousaf tore apart the coalition deal on Thursday morning, Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater told reporters that hapless Humza’s decision

I have not been entirely flattering about the performance in government of the Scottish Green party ministers, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. I have accused them of being responsible for most of the policy failures that have defined Humza Yousaf’s annus horribilis. Everything from the Deposit Return Scheme for bottles and cans to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill; the Hate Crime Act to the ban on wood burning stoves.   But it is time for me to put the record straight and say that the Greens aren’t all bad. Some of my friends have been Green and a few even remain in the party – though with increasing annoyance at its policies on