SNP leadership hopeful Humza Yousaf skipped key vote on gay marriage due to ‘religious pressure’, says Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond
Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has told Sky News that SNP leadership hopeful Humza Yousaf skipped a key vote on gay marriage due to “religious pressure”.
The Alba Party leader said Mr Yousaf seems to have a “different recollection” over the events surrounding the historic 2014 vote after the Scottish health secretary denied deliberately setting up a diary clash weeks in advance.
However, appearing on Beth Rigby Interviews on Thursday, Mr Salmond said he was notified of Mr Yousaf’s meeting “10 days or so before the vote”.
Humza Yousaf pictured taking part in the SNP leadership hustings in Cumbernauld on Wednesday night
‘That’s my recollection’
Mr Salmond, who was leader of the SNP and Scotland at the time of the final vote, told Ms Rigby: “I’ve been very reluctant to get involved in this because it is an internal SNP leadership battle.
“I really don’t have a dog in this race, and anything I say, you know, people will say ‘he’s only saying that because he’s leader of Alba’.
“My memory is that I was contacted 10 days or so before the vote, when the vote was known, and told that Humza was arranging a ministerial appointment.”
When pressed further on whether Mr Yousaf skipped the vote due to “religious pressure”, Mr Salmond stated: “That’s my recollection.”
Beth Rigby interviewed Alex Salmond on Thursday afternoon
The Scottish health secretary is currently in the running to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister following her shock resignation last month.
After fellow candidate Kate Forbes received backlash over her equal marriage views, Mr Yousaf was questioned over his absence from the historical vote in 2014 and asked if he too would have voted against it.
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SNP leadership candidate Humza Yousaf said he does not believe gay sex is a sin.
Mr Yousaf gave his support to an earlier vote but missed the final one.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Yousaf said his abstention was being “dragged up” for political reasons by “people who are supporting other candidates”.
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Kate Forbes has come under fire for her views on equal marriage and having children out of wedlock
He stated that gay sex was not a sin and told Sophie Ridge on Sunday: “I believe that people’s marriage, if they are gay and they are married, that their marriage is no more inferior, or worth less, than my marriage as a heterosexual individual.”
Mr Yousaf has also voiced his support of the Scottish government’s controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which was subsequently blocked by the UK government.
Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf are all in the running to be the next SNP leader and first minister
‘If I was there I would have voted for it’
When asked about his absence from the 2014 vote, Mr Yousaf said he missed it over the case of a Scottish citizen on death row in Pakistan.
He claimed: “There was a series of meetings taking place between myself and the Pakistani government to get this individual back home. One of those meetings was during the stage three vote.
“Let me be unequivocal about it – if I was there I would have voted for it. That was well known at the time.”
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However, former health secretary Alex Neil alleged that Mr Yousaf had asked to skip the final vote due to pressure from a mosque.
In one interview, Mr Neil stated that the meeting had been “arranged deliberately to give him cover for the timing of the vote”.
Mr Salmond admitted discussing the issue with people at the time, including Mr Neil, and their memories are reportedly the same.
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‘His memory may be different from mine’
The politician stressed that Mr Yousaf did not need to ask for permission to miss the vote as it was a conscience vote.
Asked what reason was given, Mr Salmond responded: “I didn’t discuss the thing at great length. The assumption was there was pressure.”
He stated it was “no secret” that a lot of religions were “canvassing” politicians over the vote at the time.
Former SNP leader Alex Salmond with Humza Yousaf during the first day of parliamentary business at the Scottish Parliament in 2011
Speaking about Mr Yousaf’s denial, Mr Salmond said: “His memory may be different from mine, let’s put it that way.
“He seems to have a different recollection from what I do or what Alex Neil has, so be it.”
Connor Gillies, Sky News’ Scotland correspondent, questioned Mr Yousaf over Mr Salmond’s claim during the MSP’s campaign visit to Dalkeith in Midlothian later in the afternoon.
Mr Yousaf denied it.
He said: “It is the most predictable political intervention, I have to say.”
Mr Yousaf highlighted that a number of MSPs raised concerns about equal marriage and the bill at the time, but he was not one of them.
He stated: “Time and time again I’ve told you my account, I’ve told you why the meeting was necessary, and people can see my track record.”
Refuting Mr Salmond’s claim, Mr Yousaf said: “Well I have to say, my recollection is very different to Alex Salmond’s recollection. Alex Salmond is also, I think by any objective measure, he has of course backed other candidates in this race.”
When told Mr Salmond has not backed any of the other candidates, Mr Yousaf said the former first minister had “made it pretty clear” that he does not want to see him as leader of the SNP.
When questioned over whether Mr Salmond was “not telling the truth”, Mr Yousaf stated: “My recollection is different to Alex’s. I’m not going to sling mud.”
He added: “Alex Salmond will say what Alex Salmond has said. Alex Neil will say what they say. I will continue to give you my recollection of what happened, the account of what happened.”
The leadership candidate later released a statement in which he said he had “never denied there was pressure” on him over the vote, but that he was “vocal” in his support for “marriage equality at the time and I remain totally unequivocal on that position”.
Mr Yousaf added: “As your SNP first minister, and as someone from a minority background myself, I will champion, defend and celebrate equal rights for all to the hilt.”
His leadership campaign also put out a statement from Joe FitzPatrick, the SNP’s minister for parliamentary business at the time.
Mr FitzPatrick said he was in charge of getting the bill through Holyrood – and that while ministers did raise concerns, “Humza was not one of them”.
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Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide when he was prime minister has been charged along with 14 others with election betting offences.
The 15, also including a current Welsh Senedd member and a former police officer, have been charged with cheating related to bets placed on the timing of the 2024 general election.
They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 10am this Friday to face the charges.
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The Gambling Commission said its investigation, which began in June last year, “focused on individuals suspected of using confidential information – specifically advance knowledge of the proposed election date – to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets”.
It opened the investigation after former Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams, Mr Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary, admitted placing a £100 bet on 19 May 2024 that the election would be in July.
Mr Sunak announced the general election would be on 4 July, three days after Williams, who was also an election candidate, placed the bet.
Williams, who was dropped as a candidate, admitted last June to placing a “flutter” on the election and said he “committed a serious error of judgement, not an offence”.
Current Senedd member, police officer and Tory campaign director charged
Among those charged is Russell George, a Conservative member of the Welsh Senedd, who returned to the front bench in October after stepping back from his role as spokesman for mid-Wales in June.
Over the weekend, the Welsh Conservatives re-selected him to be a candidate in the Senedd elections next year, but have now suspended him “pending outcome of the justice process”.
Russell George has been suspended as a Member of the Senedd. Pic: Welsh Parliament
Other notable people charged are former police officer Jeremy Hunt, Tony Lee, the Conservatives’ former campaign director, and his wife, Laura Saunders, a former Tory election candidate, and Nick Mason, the Conservatives’ former chief data officer.
Many others are, or were, also Conservative Party staff. The party has said those still working for them have been suspended.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party believes that those working in politics must act with integrity. Current members of staff who have been charged are being suspended with immediate effect.
“These incidents took place in May last year. Our party is now under new leadership and we are cooperating fully with the Gambling Commission to ensure that their investigation can conclude swiftly and transparently.”
Tony Lee was Conservative campaign director
Who are the 15 people charged?
• Simon Chatfield, 51, from Farnham
• Russell George, 50, from Newtown, Wales (suspended Welsh Conservative Senedd member for Montgomeryshire)
• Amy Hind, 34, from Loughton, Essex
• Anthony Hind, 36, from Loughton, Essex
• Jeremy Hunt, 55, from Horley (a former police officer, not the ex-chancellor)
• Thomas James, 38, from Brecon, Wales
• Charlotte Lang, 36, from Brixton
• Anthony Lee, 47, Bristol (known as Tony, former director of Conservative Party campaigning)
• Iain Makepeace, 47, from Newcastle Upon Tyne
• Nick Mason, 51, from Gillingham (former Conservative Party chief data officer)
• Paul Place, 53, from Hammersmith, London
• Laura Saunders, 37, from Bristol (Tony Lee’s wife and Conservative 2024 candidate for Bristol North West who was then dropped)
• James Ward, 40, from east London
• Craig Williams, 39, from Llanfair Caereinion, Welshpool
• Jacob Willmer, 39, from Richmond, London.
Labour candidate Kevin Craig was included in the investigation after placing a bet that he would lose his bid to become an MP, but was cleared of any wrongdoing in December.
Laura Saunders was the party’s candidate in Bristol North West and is the wife of Tony Lee Pic: Laura Saunders for Bristol North West
Ellie Reeves, chair of the Labour Party, said: “This is a very serious development. The British people will expect that anyone found guilty of wrongdoing faces the full force of the law.
“Kemi Badenoch must make crystal clear that anyone found guilty of using insider information to cheat the system to try to enrich themselves has no place in the Conservative Party. No ifs, no buts.
“Labour is turning the page on 14 years of Conservative chaos and scandal and we’re turning our country round through our Plan for Change. Only Labour can be trusted to deliver security for working people and the renewal Britain needs.”
Met Police investigation
After the Gambling Commission began its investigation last June, the Metropolitan Police opened an inquiry into whether any of the political figures or police had committed misconduct in public office.
In August 2024, the Met said they would not be charging any of them, but they remained under investigation by the Gambling Commission into whether they had broken criminal gambling laws.
UK
Rise in suicide attempts linked to HMRC tax crackdown as MPs criticise ‘sham’ review into loan charge schemes
Four more people have attempted to take their own life in relation to the loan charge scandal, which has left tens of thousands of contractors facing huge bills for tax their employers should have paid, Sky News has learnt.
HMRC has made 17 referrals to the police watchdog (Independent Office for Police Conduct) over the suicide attempts of 14 people, up from the 13 referrals of 10 people previously known about in October 2023.
The figures, revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request by Sky News, come on top of the 10 known suicides of people caught up in the controversial tax crackdown, which has alarmed MPs across the political spectrum.
The loan charge was announced in George Osborne’s 2016 budget and made freelancers liable for years of retrospective income and national insurance tax after being paid their salaries in loans.
Former Tory chancellor George Osborne
HMRC has been accused of harassing ordinary people who were victims of mis-selling, as the arrangement was widely promoted by lawyers, accountants and tax professionals in the 2000s and 2010s.
Labour has launched an independent review into the policy but campaigners have branded it a “sham” and “cover-up” as it doesn’t look at the principle of the loan charge, only ways to make people settle.
‘Trapped in an endless nightmare’
Father-of-three Ray Newton is one thousands of people who paid an umbrella company to manage his fees while working as an IT contractor for Barclays Bank from 2009-2010.
They paid him in tax-free loans on the assurance it was “completely above board”, but in 2016 he was hit with an unexpected HMRC bill of £16,000.
Ray Newton has faced demands for almost £60,000 from HMRC
Ray paid it off, but last year he suddenly faced demands for another £15,000 in income tax and £14,000 in interest that had been accruing the whole time without his knowledge. The “bombshell bill” also included £12,000 of inheritance tax on the loans despite them being classed as wages.
“Instead of going for the tax that was avoided they are going for the jugular,” said Ray, 70.
The bill arrived in the post after eight years of sporadic letters from HMRC saying Ray still needed to settle but not explaining why or by how much, often ignoring him when he inquired. It nearly destroyed him.
Ray attempted suicide over the stress of the loan charge
“I was literally begging – please tell me what it is I owe. It made me look as though I was a bad person… my wife actually left me and I got really in a state over this,” he said.
“I was having counselling, I was on antidepressant drugs, I was on sleeping pills. You know, my whole world was sort of falling apart. It was like being trapped in an endless nightmare.
“I did attempt suicide but I was stopped by a member of the public.”
Ray is now in a better place and is back with his wife, while HMRC has recently accepted the inheritance tax isn’t owed and giving him misleading or incorrect information.
But he is sceptical about the review.
“The government can’t afford or don’t want to afford the implications of a proper inquiry. This is going to be a whitewash.”
HMRC says it takes the wellbeing of all taxpayers seriously and is committed to identifying and supporting customers who need extra help with their tax affairs. It says it has made significant improvements to this service over the last few years.
Sky News spoke to several loan charge victims who said while they didn’t dispute owing tax, HMRC’s chaotic communication was making it harder to settle and move on.
“The impact has been devastating”
For father-of-two Stephen Bishop, the long drawn-out battle contributed to the breakdown of his marriage and led him to express suicidal thoughts.
He was told to join a loan scheme by the company which hired him and has since faced demands in unpaid tax ranging from £80,000 – more than he’d earn in a year – to £20,000 while a payment plan set up in 2018 was randomly cancelled.
It took many more years to reach a new settlement and after £18,000 was finally agreed upon, he was whacked with a £10,000 interest bill for the late payment.
Stephen Bishop says the stress of HMRC’s conduct impacted his marriage
HMRC continued to contact him after he requested to go through his accountant due to his deteriorating mental health, with an inspector even showing up at his door.
“I can honestly understand why so many people have taken their own lives over this. The impact has been devastating on me,” he said.
What is being reviewed?
Since 2016, HMRC has agreed 25,000 settlements with employers and individuals over their use of loan schemes, which will raise around £4.2bn in revenue.
However, over 40,000 people and 5,000 employers are yet to settle.
Labour promised an “independent review” in opposition, with Treasury minister James Murray saying the loan charge had “become a nightmare for ordinary people… who are the victims of mis-selling and face financial ruin”.
The loan charge has left many people facing financial ruin
After winning the election Mr Murray also attended a “harrowing meeting” where many loan charge victims “broke down in tears”, according to Greg Smith, Tory co-chairman of the Loan Charge and Taxpayer Fairness all-party parliamentary group (APPG), who suggested the “partial review” was down to “wilful ignorance or the bottom line” and warned it could lead to more suicides if people continue to face financial ruin.
Campaigners hoped the inquiry would look at the principle of retrospective tax legislation, the role of promoters who made profits from the schemes and HMRC’s conduct.
However, it will only examine the barriers facing those who have yet to settle and recommend ways for them to so do by the summer. And it is being run by former HMRC boss Ray McCann, leading some to question its independence.
‘Internal stitch-up’
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Tory leader and another long-term critic of the loan charge, called the review an “internal HMRC stitch-up… ran by an ex-HMRC honcho”.
He said the loan charge is a “disaster” made by the tax office for being slow to crack down on the loan schemes and the government should “draw a line under this and write the debt off”.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith
“It seems to me any MP that goes to be a minister of the Treasury gets taken prisoner by them. This should be a full-scale review where apportioning blame is part of this,” Mr Duncan Smith added.
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In a letter responding to concerns of the APPG, Mr Murray said it would have been “irresponsible for the government not to acknowledge the challenging fiscal circumstances that we inherited” and “that is the context in which this review takes place”.
He also defended Mr McCann’s independence, saying the former president of the Chartered Institute for Taxation is “a highly respected figure in the tax world whose name was suggested by one of the loan charge campaigners”.
The government declined to comment further while the review is ongoing.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
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