Swinney elected first minister of Scotland

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Veteran Scottish National party politician John Swinney was elected Scotland’s first minister in a parliamentary ballot following the formal resignation of Humza Yousaf earlier on Tuesday. 

In a vote at Holyrood, the new leader of the SNP beat three rival nominees: Alex Cole-Hamilton, Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar, the respective leaders of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Labour. 

Swinney’s path to power had been cleared earlier when the Scottish Greens said their seven MSPs would abstain. The SNP has 63 MSPs, with opposition parties holding 65 seats. 

Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Greens, said the SNP had the right to form a government but did not have “an automatic right to our votes”. 

“We need to see . . . what direction he [Swinney] wants to take,” she said. 

Yousaf’s decision to end a power-sharing deal with the Greens triggered the political crisis that ended in his decision to resign last week when he could not rely on his former coalition partners in a vote of no confidence. 

Swinney, a former deputy first minister and finance secretary, has said he will govern on a moderate centre-left policy agenda, working with parties across the chamber to deliver legislation as a minority government. 

He won the leadership of Scotland’s biggest party on Monday unchallenged, after SNP activist Graeme McCormick on Sunday withdrew from the contest.

This is a developing story