If you just ignore the opinion polls, Humza Yousaf’s first 100 days as First Minister have been an unqualified disaster. Yousaf eked across the finishing line after an internal election drenched in ruthless skullduggery and bitter factionalism. In the aftermath, he alienated and exiled his party rivals and turned the SNP backbenches from a North Korean military parade into a Holyrood remake of House of Cards.
His deposit return scheme imploded and his proposed ban on fishing in 10 per cent of Scottish waters was sunk by public opposition. His government just announced that two vessels commissioned for the state-owned ferry company in 2015, and which have never been delivered, will now cost an extra £20 million, bringing the total bill (originally £97 million) to £351 million.
Westminster has refused to give him another independence referendum. The EU has knocked back his plans to appoint a Scottish envoy to Brussels. The Foreign Secretary has banned SNP ministers from meeting foreign officials without a UK civil servant present.
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