Scottish National party leader’s decision comes less than a week after collapsing his coalition with the Scottish Greens

Humza Yousaf has said he will resign as Scotland’s first minister, forcing his Scottish National party into a leadership contest ahead of the UK general election expected this year.

At a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh, Yousaf said he would step down once a successor had been appointed. The announcement on Monday came ahead of a pair of no-confidence votes.

“I am not willing to trade my values and principles, or do deals with whomever, simply for retaining power,” he said.

“I‘ve concluded that repairing [the SNP’s] relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm,” he added.

https://www.ft.com/content/d11e2dc1-0254-45a4-80f2-69f5fe001474

The inside story of the Greens in meltdown as rebels demand leaders go

A rebel faction has formed within the Greens and they want vengeance for how party leaders handled the deal with the SNP. Our Writer at Large spent the week with them

The anger among Green Party rebels is palpable. Some are close to tears.

There’s demands for co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater to go. There’s calls for every Green MSP to be “de-selected” for “selling out the party’s values”. There’s accusations of gaslighting and bullying cliques at the top of the party creating a toxic culture of fear and intimidation.

In the days leading up to Humza Yousaf kicking Greens out of government, the Herald on Sunday was invited to a series of meetings with the party’s ‘rebel faction’. They wanted to see Greens pull out of the Bute House Agreement (BHA) unilaterally, and said they feared if they didn’t act soon, they’d be humiliated by the SNP moving against them first. Their prediction came true.

Among the rebels there’s councillors; current and former General Election candidates; people who sat or sit on key party committees, associations and representative groups; senior branch members; members who sat on the party’s ruling executive and council; party staff; and current and former employees of Green MSPs. More than a dozen rebels, from across Scotland, spoke. Much fury was directed at Ross Greer.

He’s seen by the rebels as key to the failure of the BHA. They say he was instrumental in the agreement’s mechanics, and hashed out details of the programme for government with SNP leaders, making him culpable for the “corruption of Green values”.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24283157.inside-story-green-rebels-want-rid-leadership/