Douglas Ross slams Humza Yousaf’s record whilst in office
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Two new polls have confirmed that the SNP is facing a wipeout among voters with the departure of Nicola Sturgeon. For the second week in a row, the Techne UK tracker poll for Express.co.uk revealed that about a quarter of the SNP’s vote has disappeared since she announced she would quit.
According to a Savanta ComRes poll, a third of UK adults (31 percent) say Sturgeon’s resignation as First Minister has made Scottish independence less likely compared to 20 percent saying it is now more likely.
Polling expert Michela Morizzo, chief executive of Techne UK, said: “The SNP is facing a difficult period after Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation.
“The decline in consensus can, on one side, be considered physiological at the moment due to the shock effect on the public opinion and the following uncertainty about the future.
“But now the challenge for the SNP has to be that if her potential replacements have the capacity to proceed with her politics.
“We are entering a new phase in Scottish politics and the independence debate, and it remains to be seen what happens next.”
Chris Hopkins, Political Research Director at Savanta said: “Our recent polling in both the UK and Scotland specifically speaks to the influence Nicola Sturgeon has had on the political challenges the union faces in the 21st century.
“Her impact has been widespread, and although she is seen more favourably in Scotland compared to the UK as a whole, there’s no sense that she’s a pantomime villain south of the border, and has garnered plenty of respect and admirers.”
The problem faced by the Scottish nationalists is that they still have a rival party to contend with, Alba, led by former First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond.
Added to that the three candidates vying to replace Ms Sturgeon have all faced serious questions about their fitness to lead.
Pro-UK Scottish politicians have identified the frontrunner Humza Yousaf, the Health Secretary in Scotland, as their preferred candidate to win the contest.
One Labour source described him as “captain calamity.”
Yesterday, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross berated Mr Yousaf’s record in First Minister’s questions.
To laughter in the chamber, Mr Ross went on: “He was Justice Secretary who did nothing while violent crime rose, got duped by a hoax video into calling in the police to investigate Rangers players, and damaged free speech with his Hate Crime Act.”
He also described him as “the worst health secretary in the history of Scotland” with life expectation falling, Scotland the drugs death capital of Europe and two-year NHS waiting lists.
Meanwhile, the initial frontrunner Kate Forbes, the Finance Secretary, has seen her campaign fall apart over her Christian beliefs.
she has come under fire for opposing gay marriage, saying trans women are men and saying it was wrong for children to be born out of wedlock.
The third candidate is former Community Safety Minister Ash Regan who has the lowest profile but resigned from Ms Sturgeon’s government over the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill which ultimately was blocked by the UK government.
The Edinburgh East MP will be hoping to come through the middle if support continues to ebb away from Ms Forbes and party members do not want “Sturgeon light” leftwing politics from Mr Yousaf.
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