First Minister leaves Scotland adrift

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has resigned after just over a year, throwing the country and its minority SNP government into turmoil while pushing big questions about independence further into the future. With less than a fortnight to go until the 25th anniversary of devolution, the focus is on whether that Blair-era settlement, which established a new Scottish parliament at Holyrood, is being shown up as a failure. Yousaf, heralded by Time Magazine only a few months ago as the “New Face of Scotland”, fell on his sword rather than face a no confidence vote in which his fate was in the hands of his former leadership rival Ash Regan. Regan now represents Alba – the party set up by Alex Salmond, the former first minister whose bitter falling out with the SNP and his successor Nicola Sturgeon continues to be acutely felt in Holyrood.