Following the announcement of Humza Yousaf as the Scottish National Party's new leader, Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said:
"While the SNP’s turbulent leadership contest may have ended, choosing the SNP HQ-backed continuity candidate, Humza Yousaf, will leave the party more divided than ever.
“Under Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, Scotland was plagued by division, failed policies, and an obsession with independence at the expense of delivering better public services and a strong economy. The election of her favoured candidate will do nothing to change that.
“Humza Yousaf has been part of an SNP administration during a time of decline in Scotland’s education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Many Scots will be rightly concerned about what SNP members now giving him the keys to Bute House will mean for the future of our country.
“For those of us in the Highlands and Islands, the election of another Central Belt nationalist politician with little understanding of, and no interest in, our region is extremely worrying.
“Local people will remember his failed tenure as Transport Minister and the promises he made but didn’t deliver. And his time as Health Secretary has seen too many local health services either reduced or cut entirely, and longer waiting lists for local patients.
"Humza Yousaf has already promised to continue the SNP's obsession with independence which comes at the expense of the real priorities of the Scottish people.
"Scotland needs real change, and the SNP has failed to deliver that change. They offer only more of the same narrow nationalism with Humza Yousaf, and Scotland will be the worse for it”.
