Humza Yousaf faces another no confidence vote as Labour lodge motion

Humza Yousaf is facing another threat to his position in Holyrood as Labour has lodged a motion of no confidence in the entire Scottish Government.

The motion is against the whole government, the First Minister and all the ministers.

If it succeeds it could lead to a Scottish election.

The move by Anas Sarwar’s party comes a day after the Tories announced a motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf as First Minister.

READ NEXT:Pothole claims rocket in Glasgow but few are paid out on

If the Tory motion is passed it would be up to the First Minister to decide how he responds.

But the Labour motion, if passed, means Humza Yousaf and all government ministers would be required to resign.

The Parliament would then have 28 days to choose a new first minister. If it fails to do so then an election would take place.

Labour said it made the move to remove the entire Scottish Government after Humza Yousaf ended the Bute House agreement with the Scottish Greens leaving him leading a minority government.

READ NEXT: Humza Yousaf no confidence: Greens reveal how they'll vote

Sarwar said: “It’s a matter now of when – not if – Humza Yousaf will step down as First Minister.

“It would be untenable for the SNP to assume it can impose another unelected First Minister on Scotland.

“Scottish Labour has no confidence in Humza Yousaf or this SNP Government – that is why we are laying a motion today to this effect to say that the parliament has no confidence in the Scottish Government.”

He said the people should have the choice of who becomes first minister in the event of Yousaf resigning and said they want an election.

Sarwar added: “Removing Humza Yousaf alone will not deliver the change we need – we need to get rid of the entire SNP government which has left almost 1 in 6 Scots on an NHS waiting list, public finances in chaos and public services at breaking point.

“The people of Scotland deserve a fresh start – this can only come with a Scottish election.”

The SNP has 63 MSPs and if they all supported the First Minister in opposing the motions of no confidence, would still require one other from another party.

With the Tories, Labour, LibDems and Greens stating they would support a no confidence motion it could come down to Ash Regan, the sole Alba MSP to get the SNP in power.

Her support, if all MSPs voted, would tie the vote at 64/64 leaving the Presiding Office with the casting vote.

The Presiding Officer convention is to vote in favour of the status quo, which would see Yousaf in the case of the Tory Motion and the Scottish Government in the case of the Labour motion, survive.