‘I messed up’ over sacking of Greens which led to my resignation, admits Yousaf
Mr Yousaf resigned in May after sacking two Green Party ministers from his government.
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Your support makes all the difference.Former first minister Humza Yousaf has said he “f***** up” in his sacking of the Scottish Greens from his government which resulted in his resignation.
Unhappy about the ditching of government climate targets, Green members forced a vote on the Bute House Agreement, which would have forced its collapse.
But before the vote was held, Mr Yousaf decided to sack co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater from his government and bring the deal to an end.
In response, the Greens said they would back a motion of no confidence in his premiership, effectively forcing Mr Yousaf’s resignation after just over a year in the job.
Appearing at an Edinburgh Festival Fringe event with broadcaster Matthew Stadlen on Thursday, the former first minister also pointed to an interview Mr Harvie did with the BBC where he appeared to question the scientific validity of the Cass Review into gender care for young people.
Yousaf said his “phone blew up” in the minutes after the broadcast.
“It wasn’t from the usual malcontents in my party, but reasonable, supportive people, saying this makes the Bute House Agreement very difficult to sustain and I need to think whether to continue it or not,” he continued.
“The miscalculation I made, is you tend to make your mistakes when you think like a politician in a political bubble and you forget the human dimension.
Look, I frankly, f***** up
“And what I did, in my miscalculation was to go, well, the Greens rely so heavily on the SNP for the list vote, if they vote against the SNP Government, and the SNP First Minister, it will be political suicide.
“Of course, the human dimension, which you must always think about, is you’re bringing in two of your ministers into Bute House and sacking them very publicly, and they are going to react very badly to that.”
He added: “I always said to myself, when I entered politics, that there were two things worth trying to do. One is never trade my principles or values, the other is when it’s time to go, own your mistakes that you make.
“Look, I frankly, f***** up.”
In the hours before his resignation, it was reported Mr Yousaf was in talks with the Alba Party to secure the vote of its lone MSP Ash Regan – who defected from the SNP under his leadership.
But he told the crowd such a deal would have been “impossible”, because party leader, and former first minister, Alex Salmond was pushing for an electoral pact between the two parties.
But Mr Yousaf said there was “no way” he would help in “rehabilitating Alex Salmond in the political sphere”.
A spokesman for the Alba Party said a deal between the two parties would have saved Mr Yousaf and made the election last month “about how many seats a pro independence alliance could’ve won as opposed to how many seats the SNP would lose to Labour”.
A document laying out Alba’s position in its negotiation with the former first minister, shared with the PA news agency, did not mention an electoral pact.
How could we trust that he would remain committed to the Green policies that were part of a deal he had just walked away from, such as rent controls and a ban on conversion practices?
Mr Yousaf also reflected on his time in office, saying he had not decided whether he would run again as an MSP in 2026, but said he would definitely not become first minister again if given the opportunity.
He also opened up on having a young family while leading a government.
While in Bute House, Mr Yousaf had a toddler and teenage daughter, and his wife Nadia El-Nakla has subsequently given birth to a baby girl, less than a month ago.
But among the most “heated” arguments the couple would have during his time in office, Mr Yousaf said, would be when she would accuse him of “just not spending enough time with the kids”.
He spoke of how she told him to “get your backside back home and see the kids”.
Speaking after Mr Yousaf’s appearance at the event, Scottish Green Party co-leader Lorna Slater said: “We respect a lot of the work that he did as first minister, particularly when it came to his commitment to social justice and his response to the genocide in Gaza.
“But we could not back him after he had caved in to some of the most reactionary elements of his party.
“How could we trust that he would remain committed to the Green policies that were part of a deal he had just walked away from, such as rent controls and a ban on conversion practices?”