Humza Yousaf has been elected as the new leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), succeeding Nicola Sturgeon who resigned in February.
On Monday, Yousaf defeated rival candidates Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and former minister Ash Regan in a ballot of party members.
Yousaf is expected to be declared Scotland’s sixth first minister.
Sturgeon, who was Scotland’s longest-serving first minister, announced last month she was stepping down after more than eight years in the job. It was the SNP’s first leadership contest in almost 20 years.
The result was announced at the BT Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh after the ballot of SNP members closed at noon, with a turnout of 70 percent.
For first preferences, Yousaf took 24,336 (48 percent), Forbes took 20,559 (40 percent), and Regan took 5,599 (11 percent) of the vote.
At the second stage, Yousaf took 26,032 (52 percent) and Forbes took 23,890 (48 percent).
“It is hard for me to find the words to describe just how honoured I am to be entrusted by our membership of the SNP to be the party’s next leader and to be on the cusp of being our country’s next first minister,” Yousaf said.
“Leadership elections, by their very nature, can be bruising. However, in the SNP we are a family.
“Over the last five weeks we may have been competitors or supporters of different candidates. We are no longer team Humza, or team Ash, or team Kate, we are one team.
“We will be the team, we will be the generation, that delivers independence for Scotland,” he added.
Yousaf was backed by a number of high profile party members including outgoing Deputy First Minister John Swinney and new SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
Hate Crime Bill
When he was the Scottish justice secretary, Yousaf introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order Act, which has been criticised because it could place further restrictions on what can be said in a public forum. It was approved by the Scottish Parliament in 2021 and has received Royal Ascent, but has been dormant since.“Stirring up hatred offences” will apply to characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics.
In 2020, Yousaf said he intended to clamp down on so-called hate speech inside the home.
He has also set out plans to bring forward a human rights bill that will incorporate key U.N. treaties into law.
The New Human Rights Bill will incorporate four United Nations treaties on economic, social, and cultural rights, discrimination against women, racial discrimination, and the rights of people with disabilities into Scottish legislation.
“It would be by far the biggest step taken in Scotland’s human rights journey. This proposed new framework would, for the first time, put in a single place the range of internationally recognised human rights—civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental—which belong to everyone,” he said.
Self-ID
In February, Sturgeon stood down after the UK Parliament blocked radical gender reforms which had been passed by the Scottish government, a move she described as a “full-frontal attack.”Under the legislation, Scotland became the first country where people could legally change their gender based on simple self-identification.
The bill allowed anyone over the age of 16 to self-ID via a statutory declaration to obtain a new birth certificate, which changes the recording of their registered sex at birth to their chosen gender.
But a few days later Sturgeon came under pressure from campaigners, MPs, and Downing Street after they expressed concerns that a transgender rapist convicted of attacks on two women was set to be sent to a female jail.
Sturgeon eventually confirmed Isla Bryson—who had changed his name from Adam Graham—would not be incarcerated at Cornton Vale women’s prison and would be held in a men’s jail prior to sentencing.
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