From Pakistan to Scotland: Meet Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s 37-year-old new leader

From Pakistan to Scotland. It’s a long road between the two nations but on Monday that distance was gapped when Scottish nationalists picked Humza Yousaf to be the country’s next leader. The current health secretary edged out competition from Kate Forbes by a narrow margin and against Ash Regan to become the head of the Scottish National Party (SNP), after former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tendered her resignation from the position in mid-February. In winning, he has become Scotland’s first Muslim leader. The next step will be for him to be formally nominated to be the First Minister by the Scottish Parliament — a vote that is due on Tuesday in Holyrood. Yousaf will then be officially sworn in at the Court of Session, Scotland’s supreme civil court, on Wednesday. Below we look at his career in politics to date and his beliefs. Early life and political career “As immigrants of this country who knew barely a word of English, they could not have imagined in their wildest dreams that their grandson would one day be on the cusp of being the next First Minister of Scotland,” Yousaf said after he won the vote on Monday. And it’s true. 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 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. [caption id=“attachment_12362212” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Humza Yousaf edged out the win against candidates Ash Regan (left) and Kate Forbes after a bruising five-week contest that exposed deep fractures within the pro-independence movement. AP[/caption] 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. [caption id=“attachment_12362232” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Humza Yousaf has been a close ally of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and was seen by many as the continuity candidate. He is expected to take forward SNP’s demand for Scottish independence. File image/Reuters[/caption] Scotland’s expectations from him With Yousaf winning the SNP vote, it marks the end of the acrimonious and unpredictable leadership contest. Yousaf has been widely seen as the continuity candidate and the favourite of the SNP leadership, even though Sturgeon refused to endorse anyone. He pledges to preserve the party’s progressive values; he is the poster child for multiculturalism — in 2016, after winning his second term as an MSP, Yousaf delivered his oath of allegiance in Urdu while wearing a kilt. In 2011, he had worn a sherwani while taking oath. He has liberal views on matters of immigration as well as gender. He was one of the proponents of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 which legalised same-sex marriage. He also extended his support to Sturgeon’s controversial Gender Recognition (Reform) Bill which will allow trans persons to self-identify. This legislation has been blocked by the Rishi Sunak government as of now. [caption id=“attachment_12362242” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Humza Yousaf is the poster child for multiculturalism. In 2011, he wore a sherwani while taking oath. File image/Reuters[/caption] He is also a firm advocate of Scottish independence, but has said that he will not follow Sturgeon’s path to independence. He has said that the party needs to get back to making the case for independence, rather than endlessly debating process. “We will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland,” Yousaf said in Edinburgh after the result. He also said an independent Scotland should look at ditching the monarchy, telling the National newspaper in an interview: “Let’s absolutely, within the first five years, consider whether or not we should move away from having a monarchy into an elected head of state.” Furthermore, he has stated in a BBC interview that he is his “own man and will do things my own way”. Yousaf added: “I have a lot of admiration, as you would imagine, for the excellent work Nicola Sturgeon has done as first minister. “But she had a certain leadership approach. Mine would be less inner circle and more big tent.” [caption id=“attachment_12362202” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The road ahead for Humza Yousaf is not easy. But he has vowed to take the country forward. “We will be the generation that delivers independence for Scotland,” he said after his win. AP[/caption] Challenges ahead of him The road for Humza Yousaf is going to be tricky and full of roadblocks. He faces the monumental task of bringing together a party that has been driven apart by a bitter leadership contest. Yousaf will also have to prove himself and that too quickly. While Sturgeon enjoyed positive approval ratings, her government did not. An Ipsos poll found that across a number of policy issues — including on health care, education and standard of living — “more people think that the Scottish government is doing a bad job than think they’re doing a good job.” As The Politico reports, there are some in his party itself who question whether he’s up to the job, given his struggle to avoid negative headlines in previous Cabinet jobs. “Nobody — including his backers — looks at Humza and says ‘there’s our leader for the next 10 years’ or even that he’ll win independence,” an SNP adviser was quoted as telling The Politico. It is left to be seen if he sinks or swims. But for now it’s interesting to see that the three leaders of Britain, Scotland and Ireland all have leaders of South Asian origin — Britain’s Rishi Sunak , now Scotland’s Humza Yousaf and Ireland’s Leo Varadkar. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.