(London) The new leader of the Scottish independence party SNP, John Swinney, was elected prime minister on Tuesday by the local Parliament to succeed Humza Yousaf, with the heavy task of relaunching his party, which is struggling as the British legislative elections approach. .
The day after his accession to the head of the SNP, John Swinney, a 60-year veteran of local politics and long number two in the executive, becomes the third head of the Scottish government in just over a year.
He replaces Humza Yousaf, 39, who announced his resignation last week after ending his government coalition with the environmentalists. The latter abstained during the vote on Tuesday.
John Swinney was elected without surprise, receiving 64 votes out of 129 in the Holyrood Parliament in Edinburgh, where the Scottish National Party is far ahead of the various opposition parties but does not have an absolute majority.
He must then take the oath at the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest civil court.
Earlier in the day, Humza Yousaf, who was Scotland’s first and youngest head of government from an ethnic minority, formally submitted his resignation in a letter to King Charles III. He remained in power for thirteen months, succeeding the charismatic Nicola Sturgeon, without having fully succeeded in embodying the future.
“As a young Muslim boy, who was born and raised in Scotland, I could never have dreamed of one day having the privilege of leading my country,” he wrote.
The Scottish parliament is responsible for many areas including health and education, while foreign affairs and defense fall to London.
Left in turmoil
The task promises to be difficult for John Swinney, a long-time close friend of former Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon and who represents more than anyone a certain continuity.
The party is weakened by the ongoing investigation into its finances, in which its former chief executive and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, is charged with embezzlement.
John Swinney was Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy prime minister from 2014 to 2023 before leaving this post when the latter unexpectedly resigned.
He previously led the SNP between 2000 and 2004, when the party was in opposition.
One of the new leader’s main challenges will be to limit the rise of the Labor Party in Scotland, in the run-up to the British Parliament elections.
While part of the opposition accuses the SNP, in power since 2007, of prioritizing its fight for self-determination to the detriment of the daily lives of Scots, John Swinney promised on Monday to focus on “the “economy, employment, cost of living”, as well as on the health system, education and the climate crisis.
He also spoke of his ambition to see Scotland become an independent country. A fight which has been temporarily deadlocked since the British Supreme Court ruled at the end of 2022 that only the British government could authorize a new referendum.
The last vote, in 2014, was won by the “no” to independence by 55%.