Scottish Prime Minister Humza Yousaf resigned on Monday. The 39-year-old party leader of the Scottish National Party said during a press conference that he had no other choice after expelling his coalition partner the Green Party from government last week. “I still believe it was the right decision, but unfortunately I underestimated the pain it would cause my Green Party colleagues to end our partnership in this way.”
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Tensions had arisen between the two left-wing coalition partners, including over the canceled climate target of 75 percent less emissions by 2030. Yousaf’s decision ended the three-year cooperation between the parties, both of which are in favor of Scottish independence. Yousaf himself was appointed leader of his party and prime minister only a year ago.
After Yousaf expelled the Green Party from government, he hoped to form a minority government. But Yousaf faced two votes of no confidence, which did not look good for him. The Scottish Labor Party wanted a vote of no confidence in his entire government, while the Scottish Conservatives wanted to vote on his role as Prime Minister. Three major parties had already announced that they would vote against him. A few days ago, Yousaf said he was “fairly confident” that he could win the vote, but the chances of that became increasingly smaller over the weekend.
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