Humza Yousaf, politician with Kenyan roots, elected Scotland’s First Minister

Humza Yousaf has been selected as Scotland’s new First Minister in a vote by MSPs at the Scottish Parliament.

The 37-year-old succeeds Nicola Sturgeon, who formally tendered her resignation to the King on Tuesday morning after announcing her intention to stand down last month after more than eight years in the post.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader is the youngest ever First Minister and the first from a minority ethnic background.

Mr Yousaf’s election at Holyrood comes after he won the SNP leadership contest on Monday, beating closest rival Kate Forbes with 52 per cent of votes compared with her 48 per cent, when second preferences were included.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton all stood against Mr Yousaf for the position of First Minister in the Holyrood vote but failed to secure enough support.

Mr Yousaf won the votes of 71 fellow MSPs, with members of the SNP and Greens backing his candidacy for First Minister of Scotland.

The 31 Tory MSPs voted for Mr Ross while the 22-strong Labour contingent voted for Mr Sarwar. The four Lib Dem MSPs backed their leader, Mr Cole-Hamilton.

During his speech before the vote, Mr Yousaf said there was "no doubt at all that Nicola Sturgeon leaves some very big shoes to fill indeed".

Mr Yousaf said that from speaking to people during the SNP leadership contest he knows many people are "feeling the significant pressures of the cost-of-living crisis".

He vowed to lead Scotland "through the tough times" but said he also believed people were "optimistic" and "ambitious" about Scotland's future.

The Glasgow Pollok MSP will now officially be sworn in as First Minister at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Early life and political career

Though Yousaf was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1985, his grandparents had moved to the country back in 1962 from Mian Channu in Punjab, Pakistan. Yousaf’s mother, also of South Asian descent, emigrated to Scotland from Kenya.

He is the second European leader to be a descendant of Kenyan parents after UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Though Sunak's parents trace their roots to Punjab, India, they migrated to the United Kingdom from Kenya in the early 1960s.

Yousaf was privately educated at Hutchesons’ Grammar School in Glasgow and studied politics at the University of Glasgow. After his studies, Yousaf briefly worked in a call centre before becoming a parliamentary assistant to SNP MSP Bashir Ahmad and later an aide to Alex Salmond.

In 2011, a then slightly more than 25-year-old Yousaf made history by becoming the youngest-ever member of Parliament. And since then, he has only climbed the political ladder and gaining in reputation.

Yousaf became the first Scottish Asian and Muslim to be appointed as minister to the Scottish Government in 2012 when then First Minister Alex Salmond appointed him as the Minister for External Affairs and International Development, responsible for external affairs, fair trade policy and diaspora. When Sturgeon took over from Salmond, he continued his junior ministership.

He then became justice secretary in 2018 and introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order bill which made “stirring up hatred” on religion, sexual orientation, age, disability and transgender identities an offence.

Yousaf has also served as transport minister, and international development minister, before becoming the health secretary in 2021.

However, it’s not been all smooth sailing for him. His political performance has been far from stellar. As transport minister in 2016, he was fined £300 (Rs 30,370) for driving a friend’s car without insurance.

He also faced criticism for the performance of ScotRail after Abellio took over the contract to run the rail franchise, which ultimately led to it being nationalised.

As health secretary, he was criticised for the long hospital waiting times, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he had defended himself, saying the problem wasn’t unique to Scotland and, in fact, the country was the only one in the UK to avoid strikes by NHS (National Health Service) staff.