Is this the beginning of the end for Humza Yousaf?

Humza Yousaf might have hoped for a better week. On Wednesday, the First Minister gave a speech at the European Institute of the London School of Economics, setting out why Scotland’s economic future would be brighter if it was an independent country. Some in the room were enthusiastic, but the Scotsman quietly drew attention to an LSE study from 2021 which had found that ‘the economic costs of independence are two to three times greater than the impact of Brexit’.

The report went on to conclude that independence would mean ‘an income loss of between £2,000 and £2,800 per person every year’ and that it would make little difference whether an independent Scotland was a member of the European Union or not. Its LSE origins were an unfortunate resonance, and in any event many observers felt that Yousaf had failed to make his economic case.

The following day brought a double whammy.