'Weak' Humza Yousaf's first year beset by scandal, opposition say on anniversary

Humza Yousaf is a “weak leader” whose year in charge of the SNP has been marred by broken promises and scandal, it has been claimed on the first anniversary of him succeeding Nicola Sturgeon.

The Scottish Tories unveiled a “report card” on Mr Yousaf’s 12 months at the helm, highlighting more than 100 policy areas where he has “fallen short.”

They included every accident and emergency waiting time target being missed, a rise in violent and sexual offences and the publication of nine independence “propaganda” papers at a cost of more than £134,000 to the taxpayer.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, said Mr Yousaf had ignored Scotland’s real priorities, at the expense of their “fixation with breaking up the UK,” the SNP’s internal scandals and “cosying up to the anti--growth Greens.”

Descended into chaos

In a separate dossier on Mr Yousaf’s record, Labour said the SNP had descended into chaos over the past year amid a police investigation into its finances and highlighted his failure to sack Michael Matheson, his disgraced former health secretary.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said Mr Yousaf was “a weak leader, who is out of his depth and leading a chaotic and divided government that is not delivering for Scotland.”

Their intervention marked the first anniversary, on Wednesday, of Mr Yousaf being elected SNP leader. This Friday marks a year since he was sworn in as First Minister.

He only narrowly edged out Kate Forbes in the battle to succeed Ms Sturgeon, despite enjoying the overwhelming backing of the party establishment.

During an extraordinarily bitter campaign, he portrayed himself as the Sturgeon continuity candidate, pledging to continue her “progressive” agenda.

Within weeks of his election, police conducted a two–day search of the home she shares with Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, as part of a long–running investigation into the party’s finances.