Scotland's Prime Minister resigns amid a crisis of confidence

Scottish Prime Minister Humza Yousaf resigned on Monday. The 39-year-old Scottish National Party leader said during a press conference that he had no other choice after his coalition partner, the Green Party, was expelled from the 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 have arisen between the two left-wing coalition partners, including over the scrapped climate target of cutting emissions by 75 per cent by 2030. Youssef's decision ended three years of cooperation between the two parties, both of which support Scottish independence. Youssef himself was appointed leader of his party and prime minister only a year ago.

After Youssef expelled the Green Party from the government, he hoped to form a minority government. But Youssef faced two votes of no confidence, which was not in his favour. Scottish Labor wanted a vote of no confidence in his entire government, while the Scottish Conservatives wanted a vote on his role as Prime Minister. Three major parties have already announced that they will vote against it. A few days ago, Youssef said he was “fairly confident” he could win the vote, but the chances of that became increasingly slim over the weekend.

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