Humza Yousaf won the SNP leadership race against Kate Forbes (right) and Ash Regan (Image: PA) Get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice Humza Yousaf must be "bold" if he is to be viewed by the public as a leader and not just a commentator on politics, an SNP veteran has said. Alex Neil , a former Scottish Government minister, spoke out on the first anniversary of the conclusion of the SNP leadership race . That result saw Yousaf narrowly defeat Kate Forbes to become the Nationalists' new leader and in turn succeed Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister. But it has been a rocky 12 months in the top
Job for the Glasgow MSP as he faced a growing list of problems in both his party and in government. Neil told the Record: "It's not been the greatest year in the history of the SNP. But, to be fair, a lot of that was what Humza inherited from Nicola." The former health secretary, who retired from Holyrood in 2021, called for Yousaf to announce "radical reform" on education and the health service. "He needs to be bold, he needs to be audacious. He gives the impression he's a commentator on Scottish politics and not a leader," Neil said. Read More Related Articles More expensive alcohol in
Scotland a step closer after Holyrood committee declares support Read More Related Articles Anas Sarwar 'yet to be convinced' of case for assisted dying law in Scotland "He now needs to lead and seize the agenda from what is a very poor opposition." Yousaf won the first open SNP leadership contest in two decades on March 27 last year but his party has been rocked by an on-going
police investigation into how donations were spent. The First Minister also faces a resurgent Scottish
Labour ahead of a make-or-break general
election later this year. With polls predicting the Nationalists stand to lose multiple MPs, Yousaf has sought to
fire up his support by claiming only the SNP can make Scotland "Tory free" . The FM has also insisted his party would have a mandate to begin independence negotiations if it won a majority seats in Scotland at the UK-wide poll. Former SNP Health Secretary Alex Neil (Image: Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/PA Wire) Asked what he thought of the SNP's general election strategy, Neill added: "The strategy is mince. "The idea you could start independence negotiations after winning 29 seats - that's for the birds. Nobody believes that. "The Tory-free slogan is idiotic. It's a free Scotland we want, not Tory-free. "What I would be doing, if I were him, would be taking the measures necessary to regain the SNP's reputation for competence - which we've lost in recent years, even before Humza came to power. "Secondly, he needs to get support for independence up and well over 50 per cent. At the moment, it's only hovering around 50 per cent. "Westminster will only respond to majority opinion if we get north of 55 per cent core support for independence and people see it's a top priority." Scottish politics Health boards blow millions on taxis Labour conference braced for
protests SNP lost thousands of members in 2023 Matheson urged to reject pay-out SNP MSP Keith Brown insisted that Yousaf was "providing the leadership Scotland needs". "At a time when the Westminster parties have never been so out of touch with the people of Scotland, Humza Yousaf has shown himself to be the leader Scotland needs," he said. "In the past year, the First Minister has put Scotland’s values and priories first at every turn - from delivering a budget that invests in our NHS and public services, to freezing council tax for households across Scotland to support people suffering from Westminster’s cost of living crisis, to resetting the Scottish Government's relationship with business." To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here . Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow Daily Record
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