Humza Yousaf set to 'call it quits' as Scotland's first minister

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf is set to resign from his position today ahead of the no-confidence vote, Sky News reported Monday. 

A senior source privy to the matter said that the Scottish National Party (SNP) leader may "call it quits".

The 39-year-old first minister is facing two no-confidence votes at Holyrood later this week after the collapse with Scottish Greens and the decision to run a minority government. 

Yousaf, who has been serving as Scotland's first minister since March 2023, sacked the Scottish Greens who have now joined the opposition and will vote to oust him from government.

Last week, Yousaf said he intended to fight the vote of no confidence called by the political opponents.

"I'm quite confident, very confident in fact, that I'll be able to win that vote of no confidence," he told Sky News on Friday.

Talks were planned between the SNP and Alba party, which is led by rival Alex Salmond. The party's only Member of the Scottish Parliament, Ash Regan — who defected from the SNP last October — was set to cast the deciding vote.

They were scheduled to meet this week with Regan putting forward the demands as her price of agreement, according to Sky News.

However, some of SNP's senior leaders said that this would harm the nationalist cause.

MP Neale Hanvey, who is Alba Party's Westminster leader, told Sky News that Yousaf's "hand is being forced from within the SNP".

"It seems that the internal manoeuvrings within the SNP have made it impossible for the First Minister to continue," he said.

"I don't think he would be even considering resigning if he had the support of his parliamentary group and I think reading between the lines, that's not something that he can depend on now and that's possibly why he's been forced to seriously consider resigning."

Meanwhile, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News: "It does seem an extraordinary mess that he's managed to get him and the SNP into. That they are now potentially going to be beholden to Alba.

"If you look at the SNP's record, their obsession with independence, I'm afraid, has led to very poor outcomes when it comes to health, when it comes to education and a number of other areas."