Humza Yousaf has said the SNP could make life “very difficult” for Labour in a hung parliament.
Humza Yousaf has said the SNP could make life “very difficult” for Labour in a hung parliament if it refused to give Scotland the power to call a referendum.
Scotland’s first minister reiterated devolving this power would be the price for SNP support on Labour’s agenda.
However he said it was “obvious” that independence was not the “consistent settled will of the Scottish people”.
Labour have repeatedly said they would not do a referendum deal with the SNP.
UK leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a snap general election following Boris Johnson’s shock resignation as an MP.
Last month senior figures in the SNP said they could hold the balance of power in the next parliament – the most explicit statement yet of their strategy ahead of the next general election.
They told the BBC they will make the demand for a referendum a central part of their general election campaign.
Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Yousaf said having an independence referendum would be “top of the list” if Labour wanted SNP cooperation.
He said: “We would never prop up a Conservative government, ever. And underline that and put that in bold. But of course if Labour do not want to cooperate with us then we would make life very difficult for them.”
Asked what he meant by this, Mr Yousaf pointed to budgets and the “legislative process”.
“There were some tricky times when we were a minority government,” he said. “What you want is a government, particularly if you’re coming in fresh as a new government, you want stability.
“You want to be able to get your budget through, you want to be able to get your legislative agenda through, you don’t want frustrated at every single corner and every single turn.”
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie said Mr Yousaf’s comments were an admission that he would “usher in a Tory government”.
She said: “That threat is a betrayal to the people of Scotland, who are dealing with soaring living costs and falling wages.”
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said Mr Yousaf appeared confident he could “hold a minority Labour government to ransom” – and that Keir Starmer would “cave to demands” for an independence vote.
Independence support ‘not consistent’
Mr Yousaf was sworn in as first minister in March after he defeated rivals Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in a leadership contest that exposed deep divisions within the party.
The 37-year-old became the first Muslim to lead a major UK party.
He was widely assumed to be Nicola Sturgeon’s preferred successor, although she did not explicitly back any of the candidates in the contest.
Ms Sturgeon wanted to use the next general election in Scotland as a de facto referendum, though this would have no effect in law.
But in a rethink of strategy, Mr Yousaf has said he wanted to focus on making the case for independence because he knows pushing for a vote immediately will be rejected.
In opinion polls, support for Scottish independence consistently sits in the mid to high forties.
Mr Yousaf told Laura Kuenssberg his preference was a “legally binding referendum”
He said: “One day one poll will say that independence is above 50%, a poll the next day will tell us that it’s lower than 50%.
“So we’re there or thereabouts in relation to support for independence. I don’t want to be there or thereabouts, I want to make sure that independence is a consistent settled will.
“So at the moment for example it’s pretty obvious that independence is not the consistent settled will of the Scottish people.”
Mr Yousaf later added that support for independence is “still rock solid”.
He said: “It’s a good base for us to build on. And I’ve got no doubt, I’ve got no doubt at all, that I will be the leader that will ensure that Scotland becomes an independent nation.”
No deal with indy parties
Mr Yousaf’s early days as first minister have proved to be challenging, with the arrest and release of the SNP’s chief executive – and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – Peter Murrell over a police investigation into the party’s finances.
There is also a looming legal row over Scotland’s gender reform legislation and a row with the UK government over Scotland’s deposit return scheme.
The DRS was last week postponed until October 2025 when, despite an ultimatum from the first minister, the UK government excluded glass from the Scottish scheme.
Mr Yousaf has already warned that devolution is “becoming unworkable” and criticised the “interfering” Conservative government at Westminster.
It comes after the Scottish government’s independence minister Jamie Hepburn told the Daily Record that the SNP should consider a “multi-option referendum”, including a devo-max option.
Asked whether he would accept former first minister Alex Salmond’s proposed alliance of the independence supporting parties, including his own Alba Party – Mr Yousaf said “not in the general election”.
“Why would we need an alliance when we are by far the largest independence vehicle party in the country by quite some distance,” he said.
