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Humza Yousaf has announced he is standing down as Scotland’s first minister and SNP leader.

Here are some of the potential contenders who could step up to lead the country.

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KATE FORBES

Pic: PA
Former finance secretary Kate Forbes arrives at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry hearing at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). The hearing is examining core UK decision-making and political governance in Scotland. Picture date: Tuesday January 30, 2024.
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Kate Forbes. Pic: PA

Kate Forbes narrowly lost out to Mr Yousaf in last year’s SNP leadership contest.

The former finance secretary faced backlash during her campaign after admitting she would have voted against gay marriage in Scotland when it was made legal a decade ago.

The Free Church of Scotland member also told Sky News that having children out of marriage is “wrong” and something she would “seek to avoid”.

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However, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch stressed that “in a free society you can do what you want”.

Ms Forbes had argued that “continuity won’t cut it”.

After losing to Mr Yousaf by 48% to 52%, she said: “If we are to continue to win elections, we need to continue to listen and maintain trust.”

Ms Forbes turned down the role of rural affairs minister, which at the time was seen as a demotion.

Although her views on social issues remain unpopular with some of her MSP colleagues, she was one of the few SNP ministers who did not delete her WhatsApp messages during the COVID pandemic.

Ms Forbes would face resistance from the Scottish Greens, who have previously ruled out working with her.

STEPHEN FLYNN

File photo dated 15/10/23 of SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who said the SNP will be "Scotland's voice" after the upcoming general election. Speaking ahead of the SNP's so-called campaign council in Perth on Saturday, Mr Flynn took aim at both the Conservatives and Labour, claiming "Scotland's values have never been further removed from Westminster". Issue date: Friday March 15, 2024.
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Stephen Flynn. Pic: PA

Stephen Flynn replaced Ian Blackford as the SNP’s Westminster leader in December 2022.

The Aberdeen South MP was touted as a potential future party leader by Joanna Cherry MP.

Ms Cherry praised his leadership, noting he was “tolerant” of opposing views and committed to addressing division within the SNP.

As he is not an MSP, that could block his chances of becoming first minister at Holyrood.

NEIL GRAY

EMBARGOED TO 0001 MONDAY APRIL 1 File photo dated 14/02/24 of Health Secretary Neil Gray who has hailed it a "significant day" as legislation on health and care staffing levels is set to come into effect from April 1, five years after the law was passed in Holyrood. The Health and Care (Staffing) Act was passed in the Scottish Parliament in 2019, but its implementation was delayed - in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. Issue date: Monday April 1, 2024.
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Neil Gray. Pic: PA

Former journalist Neil Gray is Holyrood’s health secretary. He was promoted to the role in February after Michael Matheson resigned following a scandal involving an £11,000 iPad data roaming bill.

Mr Gray, the MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, previously served as an MP between 2015 and 2021 before making the switch from Westminster to Holyrood.

Mr Gray, who served as Mr Yousaf’s campaign manager in the SNP leadership contest, was previously the cabinet secretary for wellbeing economy, fair work and energy, and before that the minister for culture, Europe and International Development.

JENNY GILRUTH

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth during a visit to Claypotts Castle Primary School in Dundee to launch the next chapter of the Reading Schools programme and look ahead to the opening of Read Write Count with the First Minister in the autumn. Picture date: Thursday August 31, 2023.
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Jenny Gilruth. Pic: PA

Jenny Gilruth, Holyrood’s education secretary, is a former modern studies teacher and is married to ex-Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale.

The SNP MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes was a junior minister in Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

She was promoted from transport secretary to cabinet secretary for education and skills after Mr Yousaf took charge in March 2023.

Ms Gilruth is seen to be ambitious but was recently criticised by Scotland’s largest teaching union for failing to read its damning report on violence in Aberdeen schools.

SHONA ROBISON

Scotland's Deputy First Minister Shona Robison arrives for First Minster's Questions (FMQ's) at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday March 28, 2024.
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Shona Robison. Pic: PA

Shona Robison could fancy her chances as Scotland’s leader following her stint as deputy first minister under Mr Yousaf.

Ms Robison, the finance secretary, has been the MSP for Dundee City East since 2003 and is a close friend of former first minister Ms Sturgeon.

She has previously held the post of health secretary, and as cabinet secretary for social justice, housing and local government was behind Holyrood’s efforts to pass the controversial Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Following the breakdown of the Bute House Agreement, Ms Robison may face a challenge to hold onto her position if the SNP wish to replace those at the top of the chain in an effort to start afresh.

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JOHN SWINNEY

Pic: PA
Former deputy first minister John Swinney arrives at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry hearing at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). The hearing is examining core UK decision-making and political governance in Scotland. Picture date: Tuesday January 30, 2024.
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John Swinney. Pic: PA

John Swinney stood down as deputy first minister following Ms Sturgeon’s shock resignation in 2023.

The former SNP leader, who resigned from that post in 2004 following poor European parliament election results, could be tempted to once again step into the spotlight following his year on the backbenches.

He ruled himself out of the 2023 leadership race, citing that he had to put his young family first.

The MSP for Perthshire North, who was finance secretary under Alex Salmond’s government, has the experience to hold the fort following Mr Yousaf’s departure.

MAIRI MCALLAN

Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing, Economy, Net Zero and Energy Mairi McAllan ahead of making a statement announcing a new package of climate action measures which she says we will deliver with partners to support Scotland's "just transition to net zero" at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood. The Scottish Government is ditching a climate change target committing it to reducing emissions by 75% by 2030, the country's Net Zero Secretary confirmed. Picture date: Thursday April 18, 2024.
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Mairi McAllan. Pic: PA

Mairi McAllan is a rising star within the SNP.

The MSP for Clydesdale was a special adviser to Ms Sturgeon and is now the wellbeing economy, net zero and energy secretary.

She faced a storm of criticism earlier this month after announcing the scrapping of the Scottish government’s key climate change target.

At the age of 31, Ms McAllan would become the youngest first minister.

As she is expecting her first child, with maternity leave expected to kick in during the summer until March 2025, it seems unlikely she will run for the top job.

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Budget: Hostile market response as chancellor suffers Halloween nightmare

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Budget: Hostile market response as chancellor suffers Halloween nightmare

First things first: don’t panic.

What you need to know is this. The budget has not gone down well in financial markets. Indeed, it’s gone down about as badly as any budget in recent years, save for Liz Truss’s mini-budget.

The pound is weaker. Government bond yields (essentially, the interest rate the exchequer pays on its debt) have gone up.

That’s precisely the opposite market reaction to the one chancellors like to see after they commend their fiscal statements to the house.

In hindsight, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

After all, the new government just committed itself to considerably more borrowing than its predecessors – about £140bn more borrowing in the coming years. And that money has to be borrowed from someone – namely, financial markets.

But those financial markets are now reassessing how keen they are to lend to the UK.

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The upshot is that the pound has fallen quite sharply (the biggest two-day fall in trade-weighted sterling in 18 months) and gilt yields – the interest rate paid by the government – have risen quite sharply.

This was all beginning to crystallise shortly after the budget speech, with yields beginning to rise and the pound beginning to weaken, the moment investors and economists got their hands on the budget documentation.

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Chancellor challenged over gilt yield spike

But the falls in the pound and the rises in the bond yields accelerated today.

This is not, to be absolutely clear, the kind of response any chancellor wants to see after a budget – let alone their first budget in office.

Indeed, I can’t remember another budget which saw as hostile a market response as this one in many years – save for one.

That exception is, of course, the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget of 2022. And here is where you’ll find the silver lining for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

The rises in gilt yields and falls in sterling in recent hours and days are still far shy of what took place in the run up and aftermath of the mini-budget. This does not yet feel like a crisis moment for UK markets.

But nor is it anything like good news for the government. In fact, it’s pretty awful. Because higher borrowing rates for UK debt mean it (well, us) will end up paying considerably more to service our debt in the coming years.

Rachel Reeves and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones prepare to leave 11 Downing Street
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Rachel Reeves leaving 11 Downing Street before the budget. Pic: PA

And that debt is about to balloon dramatically because of the plans laid down by the chancellor this week.

And this is where things get particularly sticky for Ms Reeves.

In that budget documentation, the Office for Budget Responsibility said the chancellor could afford to see those gilt yields rise by about 1.3 percentage points, but then when they exceeded this level, the so-called “headroom” she had against her fiscal rules would evaporate.

Read more:
Chancellor defends £40bn tax rises
Hefty tax and spending plans a huge gamble – analysis

In other words, she’d break those rules – which, recall, are considerably less strict than the ones she inherited from Jeremy Hunt.

Which raises the question: where are those gilt yields right now? How close are they to the danger zone where the chancellor ends up breaking her rules?

Short answer: worryingly close. Because, right now, the yield on five-year government debt (which is the maturity the OBR focuses on most) is more than halfway towards that danger zone – only 56 basis points away from hitting the point where debt interest costs eat up any leeway the chancellor has to avoid breaking her rules.

Now, we are not in crisis territory yet. Nor can every move in currencies and bonds be attributed to this budget.

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Markets are volatile right now. There’s lots going on: a US election next week and a Bank of England decision on interest rates next week.

The chancellor could get lucky. Gilt yields could settle in the coming days. But, right now, the UK, with its high level of public and private debt, with its new government which has just pledged to borrow many billions more in the coming years, is being closely scrutinised by the “bond vigilantes”.

A Halloween nightmare for any chancellor.

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Sara Sharif: 10-year-old’s stepmother said girl’s father beat her up ‘like crazy’, according to WhatsApp messages read in court

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Sara Sharif: 10-year-old's stepmother said girl's father beat her up 'like crazy', according to WhatsApp messages read in court

Sara Sharif’s stepmother sent her sister some pictures of the 10-year-old looking bruised and miserable – and told her to “delete” them, a court has heard.

“Look what he’s doing,” Beinash Batool told Qandeela Saboohi, referring to the beatings Sara was allegedly getting from her father, Urfan Sharif.

“Delete the pictures.”

A series of WhatsApp messages exchanged between 2020 and 2023, in which Batool told her sister about the physical attacks Sharif was allegedly inflicting on his daughter, were read out to a jury at the Old Bailey.

Sara Sharif
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Sara Sharif

Batool repeatedly told her sister that Sharif was hitting Sara for being “naughty”, “rude and rebellious”, and because she had cut up his clothes, hidden keys and torn up documents.

Batool, 30, Urfan Sharif, 42, and Sara’s uncle, 29-year-old Faisal Malik, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse culminating in Sara’s murder on 8 August last year.

As early as February 2020, Batool described Sharif as going on a “rampage” after spilling hot tea, saying he was “possessed”.

Writing about 10 photographs of Sara, she wrote: “This is how bad he is beating her… I feel really sorry for her. He beat the crap out of her.”

On another occasion, Batool said Sharif “went ballistic” and “beat Sara up like crazy”. She expressed fears he could break an arm or leg.

In May 2021, Batool told Ms Saboohi: “Not great in our house, it’s all a bit manic. Urfan beat the crap out of Sara and my mind is all in bits. I really want to report him.

“Why the hell doesn’t Urfan learn – she’s covered in bruises, literally beaten black.”

Afterwards, Sharif sat “on his fat bum” and played the board game Ludo, she said.

She went on: “Why the hell I’m even letting him in the house. I’m sorry for Sara, poor girl cannot walk. She literally fainted in the kitchen in the morning. He made her do sit-ups all night.”

Asked what Sara had done, Batool said: “Because she hid the keys.”

By 2022, Batool said she was planning to get some “legal advice” but was advised by her sister to give it time and not to rush.

Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik. Pics: Surrey Police
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Urfan Sharif, Beinash Batool and Faisal Malik. Pics: Surrey Police

In an update later that year, Batool said she was thinking about taking Sara out of school, saying: “I don’t want to but kinda don’t have a choice.

“I’m just fed up of her behaviour and Urfan’s. Sara’s body is literally bruised because Urfan beat her up. I cannot even cover it up.

“He beat Sara up yesterday and I can’t send her to school on Monday looking like that.

“She ripped Urfan’s documents in front of him and was being rude and rebellious.”

Referring to an image of Sara in a hijab, Batool wrote: “You haven’t even seen her body, it’s a whole lot worse.”

Days later, she said Sara’s school was worried about her and Sharif was “stressed” about it.

In an apparent reference to Sara’s injuries, she wrote: “Urfan told me to cover it up with makeup and she’s going to wear sunglasses.”

Read more:
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Dozens of stolen supercars returned to UK

Two months before Sara died, Batool referred to “Sara’s antics”, telling her sister: “Urfan beat the crap out of Sara… Yeah, he beat her up like crazy.

“Her oxygen level dropped really low, she’s finding it hard to stay awake.”

Asked if Sharif had hit her on the head, Batool said: “Nah, but she’s breathing really rapidly.”

The day before Sara died, Ms Saboohi tried to make contact but Batool told her she was “not in the mood to speak”.

Two days later, the defendants were captured on CCTV as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan from Heathrow Airport.

That CCTV has now been shown to the jury.

On 10 August last year, police found Sara’s body in a bunkbed after Sharif called from Pakistan to say he had beaten her up “too much” for “being naughty”.

William Emlyn Jones KC, the prosecutor, has previously told jurors it was disputed whether messages Batool sent to two of her sisters were accurate or gave a full picture.

All three defendants, formerly of Hammond Road in Woking in Berkshire, have denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.

The trial continues.

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Man arrested after £300k worth of cheese stolen

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Man arrested after £300k worth of cheese stolen

Police investigating the theft of 22 tonnes of cheese have arrested a 63-year-old man on suspicion of fraud and handling stolen goods.

It follows the theft at Neal’s Yard Dairy in Southwark, south London, last week.

Company bosses said the firm had lost clothbound Cheddar worth more than £300,000 after it was conned by a fraudulent buyer posing as a legitimate wholesale distributor for a major French retailer.

Neal’s Yard Dairy added it only discovered the person’s identity was fake after a total of 950 cheeses were delivered.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Thursday that investigating officers arrested a man on suspicion of fraud by false representation and handling stolen goods.

It said the 63-year-old was then “taken to a south London police station where he was questioned”.

The force added the man “has since been bailed pending further inquiries”.

Neal’s Yard Dairy said the three types of artisan cheeses stolen were Hafod Welsh Organic Cheddar, Westcombe Cheddar, and Pitchfork Cheddar.

It added the cheeses “have won numerous awards and are amongst the most sought-after artisan cheeses in the UK”, and suggested their “high monetary value” made them “a particular target for the thieves”.

Despite what it described as a “significant financial blow”, Neal’s Yard Dairy said it had honoured its commitment to its small-scale suppliers and had already paid the three artisan cheesemakers in full.

Two days after the theft became public, the firm thanked supporters for their messages and visits to its stores, and said: “We are truly touched that so many people in the artisan cheese community and beyond are standing with us.”

Read more from Sky News:
Rugby star diagnosed with heart condition
Dozens of smuggled supercars returned to UK

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Meanwhile, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver urged followers to be on alert for “lorryloads of very posh cheese” being sold “for cheap”.

He noted on Instagram that the amount of Cheddar stolen equaled the entire annual production of Hafod cheese, “potentially creating a significant gap in the artisanal cheese market”.

Westcombe Dairy’s Tom Calver also shared a video showing the inside of the dairy, pointing to the empty shelves behind him to show how much cheese had been stolen.

“I feel a bit strange about it, actually,” Mr Calver said on Instagram. “Out of all the stuff to steal. Cheddar.

“It almost feels like an honour that it has got such value.”

He said Westcombe Cheddar was aged for 12 to 18 months, and that the stolen cheese was produced 15 months ago.

“What worries me is the trust element in things,” he said. “At the end of the day, what we need to have is more trust in the food supply system, rather than less of it.

“I hope more people will want to know where their food comes from.”

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