Humza Yousaf celebrates his first year as First Minister
It's a year since Humza Yousaf took over from Nicola Sturgeon
Last updated 29th Mar 2024
Humza Yousaf is marking a year since he took on the top job of First Minister being sworn in as the first person from an ethnic minority background to hold the post.
While he insists it’s the "greatest honour" of his life, Humza Yousaf has had a difficult first year since replacing Nicola Sturgeon following her shock resignation.
At the time he pledged a "radical, ambitious and progressive policy agenda".
Now a year into the post he insists his government has achieved "a lot" when it comes to reducing poverty and increasing foreign investment - although he also recognised "there's still a lot more to do to deliver for the people of Scotland".
Humza Yousaf's year in 12 pictures
March 27, 2023
Humza Yousaf wins a bruising SNP leadership election, narrowly defeating closest rival Kate Forbes by 52% to 48% in the second round of voting.
Speaking after the result was announced, he said Scotland should "take pride" in electing its first leader from an ethnic minority background, and he pledged to work to reunite the party.
March 29, 2023
Humza Yousaf is sworn in at the Court of Session, in front of his family, and friends, officially taking on the role of First Minister.
April 5, 2023
Less than a week into Humza Yousaf's tenure, former SNP chief executive - and Nicola Sturgeon's husband - Peter Murrell is arrested in relation to a police investigation, Operation Branchform, into how £600,000 of crowdfunding for the party was spent.
Mr Murrell is held for questioning by detectives but later released without charge pending further investigation.
The arrest leads to one of the most iconic images in UK politics in 2023, as the house shared by Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon is searched, with police erecting a blue forensics tent in their front garden.
June 7, 2023
The Scottish Government delays its deposit return scheme until at least October 2025 after the UK Government rejects an application for an exemption to the Internal Market Act - effectively blocking glass from the scheme
June 11, 2023
Nicola Sturgeon is arrested in relation to Operation Branchform.
She is released later in the day pending further investigation, and posted on social media that she knows "beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing".
September 5, 2023
The First Minister outlined his first Programme for Government, setting his sights on the "scourge of poverty".
September 28, 2023
Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing is suspended for a week from the party's Holyrood group after voting against Government minister and Green co-leader Lorna Slater in a confidence vote.
7th October
Hamas attacks Israel, prompting reprisals which trap Mr Yousaf's in-laws in Gaza.
The First Minister becomes one of the loudest voices calling for a ceasefire to avoid civilian casualties.
On 5th November the First Minister's in-laws return home to Scotland
October 28, 2023
Former SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan defects to Alba.
November 9, 2023
Media reports reveal Mr Yousaf's Health Secretary Michael Matheson racked up a near £11,000 data roaming bill on a parliamentary iPad.
He initially attempts to cover the costs using parliamentary expenses, before paying it himself in full. Mr Matheson tells MSPs in an emotional statement the bill was the result of his sons using the device as a wifi hotspot to watch football while on a family holiday.
The row dragged on until 8th Feb when Michael Matheson quits his Cabinet role, saying it is an attempt to avoid the ongoing parliamentary probe into his roaming bill becoming a "distraction". Neil Gray is made Health Secretary.
January 12, 2024
The SNP launches its campaign ahead of the general election, with Mr Yousaf pledging to make Scotland a "Tory-free zone".
January 25, 2023
The First Minister appears before the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, insisting decisions during the pandemic were not taken for political reasons.
"Greatest honour of my life"
Speaking earlier this week Mr Yousaf said: "It continues to be the greatest honour of my life, being the First Minister of the country that I've been born and raised in, the country I love and the country I'm raising my children in."
It’s been a traumatic year for the First Miniser’s family with his in-laws trapped in Gaza during the initial stages of the Israeli response to the terror attack by Hamas on 7th October.
Council tax win
The First Minister has had some successes in post - with the Scottish Government managing to push through the council tax freeze he had promised, despite two local authorities having initially voted to increases charges.
That freeze however sparked its own controversy - with Mr Yousaf announcing it to the SNP conference in October without first consulting with local government leaders, leaving them enraged.
More worryingly perhaps, just days after being sworn in, the Police Scotland investigation into SNP finances saw the party's former chief executive Peter Murrell - Ms Sturgeon's husband - arrested.
Ms Sturgeon herself was arrested and questioned by detectives in June 2023 - although neither she nor her husband have been charged.
Conceding the investigation has been "one of the most difficult times" for the party, he said earlier this year how it had "clearly" affected public perceptions of the SNP.
That downturn, coupled with a resurgence in support for Scottish Labour, saw Mr Yousaf's party trounced in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election in October after Margaret Ferrier became the first Scottish MP to be removed from the Commons following a recall petition sparked by her breaching of Covid rules.
The SNP leader suffered another blow when the Supreme Court ruled against the Scottish Government after it pursued a legal challenge to Westminster for blocking controversial gender recognition reforms passed by Holyrood.
Rivals' response
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "Humza Yousaf is a nice guy who's just not up to the job."
Mr Sarwar said: "It's been a year of Humza Yousaf, but it's been 17 years of SNP failure.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross was equally critical, saying: "Humza Yousaf's first year as SNP leader has been nothing short of a disaster for him, his party and - most importantly - the people of Scotland.
"It's a tale of independence obsession, abject failures and broken promises, of a First Minister out of his depth and unable to control his feuding, scandal-ridden party."