Humza Yousaf has said he will not resign as first minister after 24 hours of intense speculation about his leadership.
Speaking at an event in Dundee, the Scottish National party leader, who faces a vote of confidence at Holyrood next week, told reporters: “I will absolutely be taking us into a general election and 2026 Scottish parliament elections.”
Yousaf also offered an olive branch to the Scottish Greens, saying that he had “heard their anger” after he axed the governing partnership on Thursday morning, blindsiding supporters and opponents.
In a furious response, the Greens denounced Yousaf as weak and cowardly and accused him of “selling out future generations” by walking away from the Bute House agreement, before confirming that they would support a motion of no confidence in his leadership, brought against him by the Scottish Conservatives. It is likely to be debated next Wednesday or Thursday.
At the Dundee event, Yousaf told Sky News: “I intend absolutely to fight that vote of no confidence, I’ve got every intention of winning that vote of no confidence.
“And let me say to the opposition, for minority government to work in the interest of the people of Scotland also requires the opposition to act in good faith. And to the Greens I’ve obviously heard their anger, their upset.”
The no-confidence vote will bring Yousaf to the brink of defeat. The SNP is two votes short of a majority at Holyrood and he would need to secure the backing of SNP rebels as well as a former SNP minister, Ash Regan, who defected to Alex Salmond’s Alba last October in protest at the party’s stance on gender reform and lack of progress on independence.
Yousaf said he would be writing to all party leaders at Holyrood, including the Scottish Greens’ co-leaders, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, to discuss “how do we make minority government work”.
Harvie told the PA Media news agency that it was “pretty clear” Yousaf would not be able to unite the Scottish parliament after the collapse of the Bute House agreement.
Harvie said it was up to the SNP to find a suitable leader. “Very clearly, he [Yousaf] doesn’t have the confidence of parliament. We said very clearly the responsibility of the decision is on him. He needs to bear the consequences of that reckless and damaging decision,” he said.
On Friday morning, Scottish Labour applied further pressure by tabling its own motion of no confidence in the Scottish government. Unlike the Conservative motion against Yousaf, if Labour’s were successful it would require the first minister and his ministers to resign. If the Scottish parliament cannot agree on another first minister within 28 days this would trigger an election.
Rachel Reeves, of UK Labour, said it was “time for a fresh start in Scotland”.
The shadow chancellor said: “We will back the motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf, but we’ve gone further and tabled a motion of no confidence in the whole Scottish government and if Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour are successful with that amendment the government will fall and there’ll be fresh elections and it is time for a fresh start in Scotland.”