MSPs to vote on Labour bid to force out the SNP Government
A motion of no confidence in the Scottish Government will be voted on
Last updated 1st May 2024
An attempt by Scottish Labour to bring down the Scottish Government, and potentially trigger an early Holyrood election, will be happening today, but it's predicted to be voted down.
Labour's leader, Anas Sarwar, tabled a confidence motion in the wake of the acrimonious end of the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens.
It followed the Scottish Conservatives moving a confidence motion about Humza Yousaf as First Minister, but that was withdrawn following his decision to stand down, which was announced on Monday.
Holyrood rules
If passed by MSPs, the motion would compel the First Minister to resign immediately under the terms of the Scotland Act, with Holyrood given 28 days to elect a new First Minister before an election is called.
While unlikely to pass - due to the likelihood the Scottish Greens will abstain - it will gain the support of the Tories and Lib Dems.
The motion comes at the end of a tumultuous week in Scottish politics, with the collapse of the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Greens sparking a chain of events which led to the First Minister's resignation.
READ MORE: John Swinney and Kate Forbes could stand for First Minister
Stop "playing games"
Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay is calling for an end to the "game playing", telling Northsound 1 News: "We do have confidence in the Scottish Government as a whole to continue as a minority government.
"I'm very clear the support they've given to my bill on buffer zones around abortion clinics and other bills is part of the reason I will be supporting the Government.
"There are many better things we can do with that time."
In pictures; Humza Yousaf's year as First Minister
March 27, 2023
Humza Yousaf wins a bruising SNP leadership election, narrowly defeating closest rival Kate Forbes by 52% to 48% in the second round of voting.
Speaking after the result was announced, he said Scotland should "take pride" in electing its first leader from an ethnic minority background, and he pledged to work to reunite the party.
March 29, 2023
Humza Yousaf is sworn in at the Court of Session, in front of his family, and friends, officially taking on the role of First Minister.
April 5, 2023
Less than a week into Humza Yousaf's tenure, former SNP chief executive - and Nicola Sturgeon's husband - Peter Murrell is arrested in relation to a police investigation, Operation Branchform, into how £600,000 of crowdfunding for the party was spent.
Mr Murrell is held for questioning by detectives but later released without charge pending further investigation.
The arrest leads to one of the most iconic images in UK politics in 2023, as the house shared by Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon is searched, with police erecting a blue forensics tent in their front garden.
June 7, 2023
The Scottish Government delays its deposit return scheme until at least October 2025 after the UK Government rejects an application for an exemption to the Internal Market Act - effectively blocking glass from the scheme
June 11, 2023
Nicola Sturgeon is arrested in relation to Operation Branchform.
She is released later in the day pending further investigation, and posted on social media that she knows "beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing".
September 5, 2023
The First Minister outlined his first Programme for Government, setting his sights on the "scourge of poverty".
September 28, 2023
Veteran SNP MSP Fergus Ewing is suspended for a week from the party's Holyrood group after voting against Government minister and Green co-leader Lorna Slater in a confidence vote.
7th October
Hamas attacks Israel, prompting reprisals which trap Mr Yousaf's in-laws in Gaza.
The First Minister becomes one of the loudest voices calling for a ceasefire to avoid civilian casualties.
On 5th November the First Minister's in-laws return home to Scotland
October 28, 2023
Former SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan defects to Alba.
November 9, 2023
Media reports reveal Mr Yousaf's Health Secretary Michael Matheson racked up a near £11,000 data roaming bill on a parliamentary iPad.
He initially attempts to cover the costs using parliamentary expenses, before paying it himself in full. Mr Matheson tells MSPs in an emotional statement the bill was the result of his sons using the device as a wifi hotspot to watch football while on a family holiday.
The row dragged on until 8th Feb when Michael Matheson quits his Cabinet role, saying it is an attempt to avoid the ongoing parliamentary probe into his roaming bill becoming a "distraction". Neil Gray is made Health Secretary.
January 12, 2024
The SNP launches its campaign ahead of the general election, with Mr Yousaf pledging to make Scotland a "Tory-free zone".
January 25, 2023
The First Minister appears before the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, insisting decisions during the pandemic were not taken for political reasons.
April 25 2024
Humza Yousaf calls the Scottish Green Party co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater to an early morning meeting to them them he is ending the Bute House Agreement between the parties, meaning the pair lose their Government jobs, and declares his intention to run a minority SNP Government. They angrily denounce the move and call him "weak" and "hopeless". The Scottish Conservatives call a vote of confidence in the First Minster, followed by Labour moving a confidence vote about the Scottish Government.
'Point of principle'
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said he wanted to use the motion to highlight the need for a Holyrood election following the turmoil in the SNP.
He added that the "genie was out of the bottle" for the SNP, adding: "I think this is a dysfunctional, chaotic, divided political party."
The decision to press ahead with the vote, he said, was a "point of principle", adding: "We also want to highlight the democratic deficit as they themselves described it when they were talking about Westminster and the Conservatives.
Mr Sarwar said he was "desperate" for a Scottish election alongside a Westminster one, which will be held later this year, adding his party was "ready for elections".
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross withdrew a motion of no confidence in the First Minister following his decision to stand down, saying it was "job done".
"While, on a personal level, I wish him well for the future, he was a disaster as First Minister and it's in Scotland's interests that he goes", he said.