Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf to resign
Since last night, we heard rumours and whispers that Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf is set to walk away.
In the last few minutes, the BBC has established that the first minister will indeed quit – and as early as today.
Yousaf’s position seems to have shifted substantially on Sunday. Yesterday evening, the BBC’s Scotland editor James Cook was told by an SNP source that Yousaf was considering stepping down, which marked a departure from the noises we had been hearing that he wanted to fight on.
This morning, our political editor Chris Mason and correspondent Nick Eardley heard similar reports from other sources familiar with the internal workings of the SNP.
About an hour ago, BBC Scotland’s political correspondent David Wallace Lockhart was told there was a growing expectation among senior figures in the party that Yousaf would step down.
Now, it looks all but certain that Yousaf is going to quit and things could move very quickly.
Political reporting – particularly on sensitive issues like this one – often relies on us speaking to people who work closely with politicians or for parties in order to find out what discussions are going on behind closed doors.
Neither Yousaf or the SNP are saying anything publicly this morning, so we are relying on these often anonymous sources to give us the inside scoop.
We’ll keep making those phone calls and bring you the latest as soon as we get it.
Published at Mon, 29 Apr 2024 04:42:33 +0000