Iain Macwhirter Iain Macwhirter

Humza Yousaf is becoming a master at alienating Scottish voters

Humza Yousaf (Credit: Getty images)

At last, a target Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf should have no trouble meeting. Waiting lists? The attainment gap? Dualling the A9? Of course not.

Humza Yousaf says his forthcoming government reset can be expected to ‘p**s people off’. When it comes to annoying people the First Minister is a veritable virtuoso. He has certainly irritated many in the SNP with his insistence on perpetuating the controversial alliance with the Scottish Green party.  

Mr Yousaf clearly knows what side he’s on; unfortunately, Scottish voters are increasingly on the other side

Yousaf is quite serious though. Yesterday he told the Holyrood Sources podcast that, as a ‘conviction’ politician, it is his righteous duty to curry unfavour with many voters, first of all by increasing their taxes in the autumn budget. A new intermediate tax band on higher earners is forecast. Scotland is already paying the highest taxes of any region in the UK on most measures. 

The First Minister says that ‘most politicians end up being people pleasers’.

Written by
Iain Macwhirter

Iain Macwhirter is a former BBC TV presenter and was political commentator for The Herald between 1999 and 2022. He is an author of Road to Referendum and Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won a Referendum but Lost Scotland.

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