Who Will Replace Sturgeon As The Leader Of The SNP?

Sean O’Grady looks at who’s left in the race to lead the party

The race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister of Scotland is taking some unexpected turns. Some of the most obvious successors to Sturgeon have ruled themselves out, and issues of conscience have so far eclipsed debate about economics, social policy, and even independence itself.

Who has the best chance of winning the SNP leadership?

If you believe the bookies, then it’s the Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf. This is slightly curious, because he has become a controversial figure during his time in that post, and wasn’t the most obvious candidate to succeed Sturgeon. Even so, he is emerging as the most assured of the available (and thinning) field, and has said he doesn’t use his faith as a basis for legislation, after rival Kate Forbes revealed she would have voted against the Scottish parliament’s same-sex marriage bill (which became law in 2013).

Yousaf is actually non-committal on how he’d achieve the goal of independence. He wants a debate, and says he isn’t “wedded” to Sturgeon’s policy of using the next general election as a de facto referendum on the subject. That’s probably just as well, given the possibility that the SNP will slip back next time round, though it might not lose many seats overall because it is also likely to benefit from the current Conservative collapse. Labour’s revival might well erode the SNP vote in the central belt.

At the moment, the contest is Yousaf’s to lose. If he does succeed, it will be another remarkable achievement for a British politician of colour, alongside the accomplishments of Rishi Sunak and Sadiq Khan.

Who’s ruled themselves out?