humza yousaf - mackenzie from the sun. thank you, first minister. humza yousaf had .st minister. humza yousaf had spoken about launching into talks on independence if the snp was to win more seats in scotland. he was talking about your aim to win more seats in scotland. if the snp wins the most seats in scotland, will you take that as a direct mandate to begin negotiations on things, or would you request the powers to hold a referendum in that case? i would you request the powers to hold a referendum in that case?— a referendum in that case? i would alwa s a referendum in that case? i would always want _ a referendum in that case? i would always want to _ a referendum in that case? i would always want to have _ a referendum in that case? i would always want to have the _ a referendum in that case? i would always want to have the powers . a referendum in that case? i would always want to have the powers to | always want to have the powers to hold a referendum, lewis, because i recognise that the referendum route is the most informative and definitive route for the peop

that resulted in calls for him to quit, in because of no confidence in humza yousaf.ed in to take over. it hasn't been the easiest time forjohn swinney. he's been dealing with the shadow looming over the party of an ongoing police investigation into the snp's finances. that has led to the snp's finances. that has led to the arrest in charge of the party's former chief executive peter murrell who is also the husband of nicola sturgeon. he is charged with embezzling party funds and a report into that is now sitting with prosecutors. that investigation continues. the investigation is also dealing with that in the background and then right at the start of the election campaign, former snp health secretary michael matheson, who resigned over an £11,000 ipad data bill was facing sanctions from the scottish parliament. he had initially been defended by the party. he said he had used the ipad for work purposes, allowing the taxpayer to pick up the bill. and then eventually admitted that his sons had been using the device to watch football on holiday and he paid back the money

listen, it has been a tricky year for the snp, it is not so long ago that the former first minister humza yousafharing partners the scottish greens. there is also an ongoing police investigation into the snp funding and finances. but this afternoon whenjohn swinney gets to his feet in glasgow not far from here he will be wanting to focus on what he sees as the positive achievements of the snp government as well as his priorities ahead of this general election. thank you, katie hunter in glasgow. we are expecting the snp launch in a few hours and we will be back when we hear that that is starting. south africa's anc says it is willing to talk to all political parties to create a coalition government after it lost its parliamentary majority in the elections for the first time in 30 years. its secretary—general, fikile mbalula, said his party had nothing to celebrate from the election but was not down and out. he denied underestimating the threat from the former president, jacob zuma. president jacob zuma. mr zuma's mk party got almost 15% of the vote and was a major factor in the anc�*s poor perfo

your predecessor as first minister was health minister, humza yousaf.". yet here in scotland, 7000 still waiting more than two years for treatment, 37,000 waiting over a year. you have not delivered on the nhs, have you? we're making headway on the long wait, but i accept that there are still people waiting too long. there are other measures which show the comparative performance of the health service in scotland. so if you take a&e waiting times, for example, scotland has, in core sites, the best performing a&e system in the united kingdom, better than england, better than wales. and we've had that... still the worst ever in the history of scotland. well, that's. .. worst ever. ina sense... my point is this, that we are, we have an a&e system that is performing the best in the united kingdom, and we have done so for the best part of ten years. but there are still challenges that exist within the national health service, despite the fact that we've substantially funded the nhs in scotland. you have all the power, you tax more than anywhere else in the u

but they have had a difficult year, it is not so long ago that the first minister humza yousaf resignedpolice investigation into the snp shall as funding and finances, but this afternoon, john swinney will want the focus to be on what he perceives to be his party's positive record and his priorities ahead of this general election. find and his priorities ahead of this general election.— general election. and we are exoecting — general election. and we are expecting that _ general election. and we are expecting that snp - general election. and we are expecting that snp launch i general election. and we are expecting that snp launch in j general election. and we are - expecting that snp launch in about an hour or so. let's get some of the day's other news now. ukrainie's president has accused china of prolonging the war in his country by supporting russia. volodymyr zelensky said beijing was not only refusing to take part in a planned summit in switzerland later this month, but was trying to prevent others from attending. beijing has denied taking sides in the war. north korea has continue

and you had a very short term first minister of scotland, in humza yousaf. government for, gosh, forever. yeah for time immemorial, for a very long time. in wales, the labour party are very popular in wales , so i don't think they are wales, so i don't think they are actually, you know, they're not exact parallels, certainly because the snp were on the slide by the time humza yousaf encountered difficulty. but i would say to the labour party being government is an incredible privilege, which they have been in wales, so itself out pulled together, crack on with the job, deliver for this man though, because when he became leader, the press seemed to have simply report that he was the first black leader in europe, in wales, in europe, in europe, in wales, in europe, in europe , and nothing really about europe, and nothing really about what he stands for. >> oh, he's not he's his policies like be he's very sensible. >> he's very, down the road, blairites a bit of a sort of centrist is centrist. >> i just love the centrists, but but it is interesting, isn't it, t

humza yousaf has issues _ funding and finances.ration agreement with the greens in— the cooperation agreement with the greens in scotland. _ the cooperation agreement with the greens in scotland. that _ the cooperation agreement with the greens in scotland. that is- greens in scotland. that is something _ greens in scotland. that is something john _ greens in scotland. that is something john swinney. greens in scotland. that is- something john swinney accepts. it is something — something john swinney accepts. it is something they _ something john swinney accepts. it is something they need _ something john swinney accepts. it is something they need to - something john swinney accepts. it is something they need to move i is something they need to move beyond — is something they need to move beyond if— is something they need to move beyond if you _ is something they need to move beyond. if you look— is something they need to move beyond. if you look at _ is something they need to move beyond. if you look at scottish l beyond. if you l

we saw just a few weeks ago change from snp leader humza yousaf tojohn swinney are one of the issues change was in there was no context was a real recognition that of uk general election came along the party was in quite difficult straits need to get a new leader in that people knew and do so very quickly because mps are definitely concerned that the sort of push towards making the a solely labour— tory contest drives that the pitch and vote as�* mines. when thatjohn swinney, as you say, he has only beenin swinney, as you say, he has only been in the role for a very short time. has he managed, to what extent his he managed to keep the party together, as he promised? he has certainly managed to build a source of unity to end infighting. having election campaign will help is that binds people together. has been some criticism of how he handled the suspension of form parliament a former mp michael matheson but general he has the support of the party in a strong enthusiasm in the party in a strong enthusiasm in the party forjohn swinney leadership but what they have to do now is get his

humza yousaf's tenure look long.k you. right. don't go anywhere. we've got coyte heading in with all your latest time for the sport. paul is here. good morning. good morning. >> stephen. >> stephen. >> gareth southgate's been wielding the knife . then? wielding the knife. then? >> yes, he has. or the axe? well, yes. true. yeah thing is. well, yes. true. yeah thing is. well, how would you want to be so let's say you're an england footballer. you're in the 33 and you know, which is obviously it's a possibility . and then it's a possibility. and then though you're a bit nervous, you think that you might be one of the six that's going to be axed. what are the seven i should say. how would you prefer to be told. would you just want a text? would you just want a text? would you just want a text? would you like to be sat down because you're waiting outside the office? how would you see? i imagine you've never been fired. i've been fired a hundreds of times. >> i think you'd want to be in face to face. i should think. >> you

that followed the resignation of his predecessor, humza yousaf, who quit as first minister after thethe snp itself, but also what the greens, the other pro—independence party, with several msps in the scottish parliament. the snp is also grappling with the ongoing police investigation into its finances, so that has been looming over the party for quite some considerable time. and it wasn't easy easiest out of this election campaign forjohn swinney either. 0ne election campaign forjohn swinney either. one of the snp's former ministers faced sanctions in holyrood after being found to have breached the msp's code of conduct. john swinney had been defending the former health secretary michael matheson. that led to it tax of this issue of integrity and trust from his political opponents. —— that led to attacks. that is only being a bit of a theme of the election for the snp. what is the snp's strategy for independence in this election campaign?— independence in this election camaiun? ,, , ., ., campaign? the snp is going into the selection with _ campaign? the snp is going into the select

don't forget back in april humza yousaf was the first minister and no one was expecting john swinneyas chief of staff to the former snp leader and first minister of scotland, alex salmond. i began by asking him how much of threat labour now posed to the snp in scotland. i was there in 2007 when we unseated labour and we had a very substantial victory four years later, a majority in a proportional representation parliament re—election in scotland. the key to that was competent government. i think it is fair to say and even most snp members would say quietly, they haven't been that competent of late. get the government back to being a more efficient, competent government and i think john swinney has started to make inroads in that respect. appointing kate forbes as deputy and stephen flynn at westminster is quite a formidable performer. but i don't think it will be that beneficial in this contest. it has to be viewed as a two—year project ahead of 2026 holyrood elections. time not really on mr swinney�*s side, he has barely had any time at all. that has benefits and risks. the benefit

sturgeon stood down, they've seen a sort of steady decline in the polls that got worse after humza yousaf'sntly vie from different pollsters. sort of the biggest labour leads in scotland since the 2014 independence referendum . that would be very referendum. that would be very significant for the election. it could be that labour pick up as many as 2030 seats in scotland. they're currently on two, but that could be make the difference. >> i mean, i don't think the polls are now suggesting sort of hung parliaments and no overall winner, but scotland could kind of be the kingmaker here. >> scotland could certainly really help keir starmer. and i think that's a great point because a few months ago, when or let's say this time last year when there was a bit more speculation about how this might all go, whether rishi sunak could be able to close the gap in the polls, an awful lot of attention on scotland, because that was felt like that held the definite key to number 10. now that we're looking at some of the seat projections that we talked about earlier, where you're looking at sort of conserva

i was actually live on air when humza yousaf resigned and we knew at 1030 that morning. press conference, because we were told to be there for it. so he wasn't so much asked as put himself forward and nobody else wanted to, i think. but there we go . to, i think. but there we go. england fans created an incredible atmosphere in the build up to our clash with denmark in frankfurt earlier, but one bloke was having a better time than most. bev turner fired jack carson five hours after the may day . just hours after the may day. just makes you proud to be british today. >> english, english, english, yeah, absolutely. >> it does. it does though, seriously, doesn't it? >> yes. oh >> yes. oh >> i mean, i thought we saw those fantastic shots , fantastic those fantastic shots, fantastic pictures of the scottish fans holding the umbrella over the elderly german lady. i think that was more of a concerted attempt to, to prove that, that to get the one upmanship. >> i'll be honest with you, i love this stuff. i absolutely love this stuff. i absolutely love it. i even like the flare u

replaced by humza yousaf. everybody knew him by his nickname humza useless . yeah.e've got a third one. john swinney, who was scottish snp leader for a few years, 20 odd years ago, wasn't very good at it and he's a he's a sturgeon ally . ally. >> yeah, but he has stabilised the ship. and the one thing the one thing is that about rishi. well i think rishi probably did . well i think rishi probably did. i mean, the only thing is that what's going on at the moment for rishi, it's not rishi sunak's fault or not all his fault that the tories are in the dire straits they're in at the moment. >> i think a lot of it is actually well. >> the rod started with boris johnson. it was compounded by liz truss and the voters . public liz truss and the voters. public opinion is a bit like an oil tanker rather than a speedboat. so the result is it moves very slowly. public opinion has been moving ever since boris johnson was there. it started with partygate. it continued with a variety of other mistakes. liz truss comes up with a completely bonkers budget , truss comes up with a comp

westminster as being a hotbed of political chaos, but look what's happened in the snp in scotland with humza yousafs about this £200,000 campaign donation that he accepted from a company unked he accepted from a company linked to a man convicted twice of dumping waste . now, as sir of dumping waste. now, as sir keir starmer told me when i asked him about this last week in wales and no rules have been broken. but the conservative welsh conservatives, who brought this vote of no confidence forward, they say that it's about judgement . andrew rt about judgement. andrew rt davies said it's about judgement, transparency and honesty. so plaid cymru , the honesty. so plaid cymru, the welsh tories, the lib dems and we know that there's two, welsh labour mps very unhappy too. and they think this is about poor judgement and that this is simply indefensible . worth simply indefensible. worth saying that 200,000 vaughan gething ultimately had nearly four times as much money to spend on his campaign as jeremy miles, the other man who he lost narrowly to vaughan gething, most of the misses here didn't support va

it was a on page one, as had been promised by humza yousaf when he was first minister earlier this yean so that sort of forced john swinney to put it there because i think if you hadn't, people would have seen that as the snp pulling back from their independence pledge, which is obviously the core message, and they need to drill that home to their sort of loyal supporters who want independence. and so it had to be in there. but it was a light manifesto, to say the least. that was only 32 pages. and a lot of those things they mentioned in the document are more just calls for what they want. uk government a potential future uk government to do, rather than things that they can actually implement themselves at holyrood . holyrood. >> do you think lewis now, though, were simply at that time north of the border, the same as we are down in westminster ? and we are down in westminster? and thatis we are down in westminster? and that is people just want change and all eyes seem to be on the indication that the labour party will become the biggest party north of the border in scotland, andifs no

let's not forget, that was when he took over from humza yousaf. not been a lot of talk of independence. i think that message that the public has far greater concerns and even for the pro—independence supporters, you know, that's a concern much, much further down the list. i think john curtice actually pointed out that independence supporters in scotland are in two thirds of them aren't expected to vote for them aren't expected to vote for the snp. their votes will potentially go to labour. now, that tells you that actually their priority is to indeed get their priority is to indeed get the conservative party out of westminster and install a labour government . but certainly today government. but certainly today we're hopefully going to hear a little bit more, what we call it meat on the bone, because, you know, we've had these really strong campaign messages holding labour to account the tories out of scotland , but we're not of scotland, but we're not likely to hear much in the way of policies because of course, the snp will never form a governme

but actually the greens were sort of absolutely involved in bringing down humza yousaf.like him and the cabal that's up there . hashtag shut that's up there. hashtag shut down that shortbread senate asap clark. >> and oh wait a minute. i'd rather talk about bikinis, but actually what we're going to do is , hold that thought. is, hold that thought. >> we're going to speak to the shadow secretary for transport. we say hello. >> good morning to louise hague. >> good morning to louise hague. >> louise, good morning to you . >> louise, good morning to you. >> louise, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> so potholes on your mind today ? today? >> absolutely. well, they're on lots of people's minds, aren't they? the state of our roads is a massive cost of living issue for drivers. we're all seeing our car insurance premiums dnven our car insurance premiums driven up because of the cost of repairs . it's estimated that repairs. it's estimated that drivers had to shell out £500 million last year in pothole related incidents, and with an average of £250 per dr

ever since the kind of fall of nicola sturgeon , the collapse of humza sturgeon, the collapse of humza yousaf'sottish newspaper, and there seemed to be a time when the snp were completely untouchable and had it all their own way. those days are well past and, you know, really for labour to kind of get a proper stronghold in government in westminster again, they've got to regain scotland and there seems to be well on their way to doing that. >> and obviously keen to try and move the dial on from diane abbott. and yet, unfortunately for them, i suppose this story is the one that keeps on giving. she's saying that overgrown schoolboys have been briefing against her, that there have been no peerages offered, and even if there were, she wouldn't accept them. i mean, how strange is it, do you think that we're looking at a labour party that faces power, potentially in just a matter of weeks, and yet is a to home people like natalie elphicke, more than somebody like diane abbott, who's been in the party for so very many years, making history as the first female black mp . first female black mp. >> it i

the i leader about a fortnight before the election was called, his predecessor home use use —— humza yousafthe collapse of his power—sharing agreement with the scottish greens for the john swinney has been around a long scottish greens for thejohn swinney has been around a long time, since the formation of the scottish parliament, and seen as a safe pair of hands, steady campaign, but he admits the snp have not had their —— not had it easy in recent years, and if you look at the polling, there is a revival of labour in scotland, which is the territory of the snp took almost completely from the 2015 election and this is what labour want to reverse, they want to take back seats, the last time they were in government they had 40 seats north of the border, although they are down to one now, and they want to reverse that, that is what the snp want to ward off. the focus of the campaign has switched in recent weeks for the snp, they spoke a lot of time talking about the tories, and they have prospered by being the anti—tory vote in scotland, but because the election has become about a narrative o

a humza yousaf lasting only just over a year.rlier, let's see what they had to say . what they had to say. >> but the person who has taken the donation off is not a very respectable person. so you know you can't sort of call call out other parties and ask them to resign and then not do the decent thing again. but that's labour all over, isn't it? >> probably be the decent thing to do. is field a vote of no confidence. so his own people do want them so he hasn't been in very long, has he? well, it doesn't really matter. look at the british prime ministers. somebody lasted a lettuce. was it the life of a lettuce or something? so it don't really matter. the term. the term doesn't really matter. it's whether you can do the job or not. >> i believe so, very little love there for the welsh first minister i think is incredibly difficult. the position he is now in, of course, all this is deeply unhelpful for sir keir starmer in the middle of the general election campaign . general election campaign. >> thank you catherine. now they've gi