We will have to wait until March 27 to find out who will lead the Scottish independence party, and the post of Prime Minister of the country, after the shock resignation of Nicola Sturgeon in mid-February. Three candidates declared themselves before the deadline, this Friday, and will be decided by a vote of some 104,000 members of the Scottish National Party.
Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan have all pledged to take up the torch of the independence struggle, led by Nicola Sturgeon despite London’s persistent refusal to hold a new post-Brexit referendum. Short presentation of the candidates.
Humza Yousaf, the party’s progressive heavyweight
Current Health Minister Humza Yousaf is the one who garnered the most support from SNP MPs. At 37, Humza Yousaf is the first high-ranking minister in the Scottish government not to be white and the first to be of the Muslim faith. When he became an MP, he took the oath in English and Urdu. He was responsible for several portfolios in government, including transport and justice.
In addition to the fight for independence, he promised to continue the progressive social policies of Nicola Sturgeon, in particular concerning the marriage of same-sex couples, the prohibition of conversion therapies and the simplification of the recognition of gender changes, opposed by London.
Kate Forbes, the conservative rising star
Aged 32, Scottish Finance Minister Kate Forbes arrived in government in 2020. Impressing her peers with her command of the Gaelic language and her willingness to defend it, she is seen as the rising star of the party. But his reputation has been tarnished for several days by his very conservative positions, which have earned him the withdrawal of the support of several elected officials in the local Parliament of Holyrood.
A member of the Free Church of Scotland, a minority from the Presbyterian Church, she said if she had been a member of the Scottish Parliament in 2014 she would have voted against same-sex marriage and would not have voted more last December the bill on gender transitions. She also said that according to her faith, having children out of wedlock was “wrong”.
Ash Regan, the independent
Ash Regan, 48, had made headlines when he resigned from government over the rejection of the controversial Gender Transitions Bill. When she announced her candidacy, she said she thought she was the right person to “regain unity, draw a line under some things and move forward”. On Twitter, she proposed the holding of an independence conference to “create a new vision of an independent Scotland”.
The undecided Scots
Despite the controversy over her recent statements, Kate Forbes remains the best placed according to a poll published this Friday, in which she garners 28% support among 1,001 Scots polled who voted SNP in 2021. 20% prefer Humza Yousaf, Ash Regan obtains 7 % of supporters. But the race remains very open, 31% of those polled having not decided on their position. According to this poll, 65% think that the immediate priority of the new Scottish Prime Minister will have to be the crisis in the cost of living and the health services (58%) far ahead of independence (30%), although 61% of those polled want a self-determination referendum within two years.