Health Secretary Humza Yousaf is favorite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Scotland’s semi-autonomous government after his main rival lost ground over her stance on LGBTQ issues.
(Bloomberg) — Health Secretary Humza Yousaf is favorite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party and Scotland’s semi-autonomous government after his main rival lost ground over her stance on LGBTQ issues.
Bookmaker William Hill put Yousaf at 8/15 to replace Sturgeon after her surprise resignation last week while Kate Forbes, Scotland’s finance and economy secretary, was second on 15/8.
Both candidates kicked off their campaigns on Monday. They fielded questions about their position on Scotland’s controversial gender recognition reform bill, which Yousaf, 37, backed and Forbes, 32, said she would have voted against.
Forbes, a member of the socially conservative Free Church of Scotland, also suggested she wouldn’t have supported single-sex marriage, though would defend the policy as leader. Some SNP politicians withdrew support for her after the comments.
The race to replace Sturgeon so far is seen as being between the two after Angus Robertson, a former UK parliamentarian who now serves in the Scottish government as cabinet secretary for the constitution, culture and external affairs, said the time wasn’t right to seek the post.
Ash Regan, a member of the Scottish Parliament who stepped down from a ministerial role over a controversial gender recognition bill, is also running. William Hill on Tuesday put her odds of winning at 6/1.
The deadline for nominations for the SNP leadership is Friday, Feb. 24, at noon. The party will announce the winner on March 27 after a vote by members.
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