Humza Yousaf officially elected as Scotland’s new First Minister

Edinburgh: Humza Yousaf has been officially elected as Scotland’s sixth First Ministe, with a majority of 71 out of 128 votes in Parliament.

The 37-year-old is Scotland’s youngest-ever head of government, first from an ethnic minority background as well as the first Muslim to lead a major UK party, reports Xinhua news agency.

Shona Robison, the current Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, will be Yousaf’s Deputy First Minister.

He will be sworn into office at a ceremony on Wednesday.

He replaces Nicola Sturgeon, who announced her resignation last month.

Sturgeon formally stepped down on Tuesday morning as the longest-serving First Minister in Scotland, after more than eight years in office.

She was also the first woman to hold the position.

Following the vote on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Yousaf to congratulate him, reports the BBC.

He said he wanted to continue “working constructively with the Scottish government” to deliver on what he argued were the “people’s priorities across Scotland, including the need to half inflation, delivering growth, and cut waiting times.”

Yousaf has pledged to push for another referendum on Scottish independence, saying that the government’s priorities will be delivered more effectively when Scotland is independent.

He said in his victory speech that he will make Scotland a “fairer and wealthier” place.

He became the head of the Scottish National Party, Scotland’s ruling Party, after winning the leadership election on Monday.
IANS