By Cameron Roy. Humza Yousaf is set to resign as Scotland's first minister after coming to the conclusion 'there is no way for him to survive this week's vote of no confidence', according to a report. Senior figures in the SNP have been told the nationalist leader decided over the weekend that there is no way for him to survive and he may stand down on Monday. It comes as he had been frantically trying to bolster his support after triggering a meltdown by summarily ditching his Green coalition partners.
They have now pledged to back a no confidence motion this week, leaving the parliamentary arithmetic looking bleak for his chances of survival. A close friend of the leader told The Times : 'Humza knows what's best for the country and the party. He is first party activist and a party man, and that's why he knows it's time for someone else.
Senior figures in the SNP have been told Humza Yousaf decided over the weekend that there is no way for him to survive and he may stand down on Monday. Mr Yousaf pictured on Friday in Dundee. The paper reports that former SNP leader and long-time Nicola Sturgeon ally John Swinney has been approached by senior party figures to become an interim first minister if Mr Yousaf is forced from office.
The SNP leader, who took over from Sturgeon in March , is facing two votes of no confidence, one in him personally from the Tories and another in his government from Labour. Excluding the presiding officer there are MSPs in total, but the SNP only has 63 votes while the other opposition parties have Over the weekend Mr Yousaf has been exploring options to convince one of the opposition party MSPs to vote to save his government. If he managed to get to 64 votes and tie the vote, the presiding officer is meant to back the status quo, so he would be able to hold on.
Former SNP leader and long-time Nicola Sturgeon ally John Swinney pictured has been approached by senior party figures to become an interim first minister if Mr Yousaf is forced from office. Mr Yousaf announced the end of the agreement, accompanied by a sign language interpreter, on Thursday. Mr Yousaf speaking in parliament after the deal collapsed on Thursday over what the Greens had seen as a gradual side-lining of their policies by the SNP.
