Humza Yousaf says Nicola Sturgeon still has a ‘good contribution to make’ and denies her woes will be the ‘death knell’ for the SNP’s independence dream with First Minister insisting support for breaking up the UK is ‘absolutely rock solid’
- Nicola Sturgeon expected to return to Holyrood today for first time since arrest
Humza Yousaf today insisted Nicola Sturgeon still had a ‘good contribution to make’ and denied her woes represented a ‘death knell’ for the SNP’s independence dream.
The Scottish First Minister claimed support for breaking up the UK among Scottish voters remained ‘absolutely rock solid’ despite a ‘really difficult’ time for his party.
Ms Sturgeon, who remains MSP for Glasgow Southside, is expected back at the Scottish Parliament today for the first time since her arrest this month.
The ex-SNP leader was released without charge pending further investigation after being quizzed for more than seven hours as part of a probe into the party’s finances.
She is the third senior SNP figure to have been arrested as part of the police’s Operation Branchform, which is probing the spending of £600,000 in donations.
It followed the arrests of her husband Peter Murrell and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie in April, who have also both been released without charge.
Humza Yousaf insisted Nicola Sturgeon still had a ‘good contribution to make’ and denied her woes represented a ‘death knell’ for the SNP’s independence dream
Ms Sturgeon, who remains MSP for Glasgow Southside, is expected back at the Scottish Parliament today for the first time since her arrest this month
Mr Yousaf claimed support for breaking up the UK among Scottish voters remained ‘absolutely rock solid’ despite a ‘really difficult’ time for his party
Ahead of Ms Sturgeon’s expected return to the Scottish Parliament today, Mr Yousaf told Sky News he was ‘not surprised’ his predecessor was coming back to Holyrood.
Asked if part if him wished she was not returning, the SNP leader said: ‘No, not at all.
‘She’s a very good parliamentarian. She’s got a good contribution to make and therefore I’m not surprised she’s coming back to parliament.’
He added: ‘She’s been released without charge, she’s going to get on with the job of representing her constituents.
‘I’ll get on with my job of representing my constituents and making sure I’m leading the country as the First Minister of Scotland.’
Ms Sturgeon departed as first minister and SNP leader in March and the subsequent dramatic developments in the police probe have seen a drop in the party’s popularity.
A Panelbase poll this weekend showed Labour were on course to win more seats than the SNP at the next general election.
But Mr Yousaf denied that the current troubles experienced by his party and Ms Sturgeon would be a ‘death knell’ for the SNP’s campaign for Scottish independence.
He said: ‘I don’t believe that at all. What I believe is that, yes, the last couple of months have been extremely challenging for the SNP – I’m not going to fool your viewers by denying that being the case.
‘Even despite the toughest few weeks, the toughest couple of months probably in our party’s recent history, support for independence is absolutely rock solid.
‘So we’ve got that solid support for independence, my job is to make sure that when these matters pass – and they will pass – we continue to build on those strong foundations that has seen us elected by the people of Scotland election after election after election.
‘The next national test, of course, will be that general election and I’ve got every confidence we will go into that election hoping to win.’
Returning to her Glasgow home on Sunday for the first time since her arrest on 11 June, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I can’t say very much just now.
‘What I will say is reiterate the statement I issued last Sunday – I’m certain that I have done nothing wrong.
‘I intend to be back in Parliament in the early part of the week, I’ll make myself available for questions then.
‘For now I intend to go home and catch up with some family.’
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