Humza Yousaf is considering resigning as Scotland’s first minister as early as today, Sky News understands. 

A senior source has said the embattled SNP leader could “call it quits” today ahead of a key vote of no confidence later this week.

Mr Yousaf is facing two no-confidence votes at Holyrood in the coming days after the collapse of his power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens on Thursday.

The 39-year-old, who now runs a minority administration in Edinburgh, sacked the Greens on Thursday and they have joined the opposition in confirming they will vote to oust him.

Talks had been planned with the Alba party, which is led by now-bitter rival Alex Salmond. Its only MSP, Ash Regan – who defected from the SNP last October – was set to cast the deciding vote and determine Mr Yousaf’s future.

The pair had been due to meet this week, with Ms Regan bringing a set of demands as her price of agreement.

But, some senior figures within the SNP had said publicly and privately that would be an electoral disaster and seriously harm the nationalist cause.

One MP said it would go down like a “cup of cold sick”.

Mr Yousaf is facing a no-confidence vote on his leadership of Scotland, and a separate motion of no confidence in the entire Scottish government has also been tabled.

Sky News understands Mr Yousaf could now walk on Monday ahead of the vote. However, no final decision has been made.

His tune appears to have changed after he insisted during a walkabout in Fife on Saturday he had no intention of resigning.

Former deputy first minister John Swinney told Sky News the first minister will be speaking publicly on Monday.

“There’s a lot to happen today, and we’ll wait to hear what the first minister’s got to say later on today,” he said without commenting on whether Mr Yousaf will be resigning or not.

A source told Sky News on Monday morning the first minister said Mr Salmond pulling the strings behind the scenes would be “doing a deal with the devil”.

The Alba Party’s Westminster leader, MP Neale Hanvey, told Sky News he thinks Mr Yousaf’s “hand is being forced from within the SNP“.

“It seems that the internal manoeuvrings within the SNP have made it impossible for the first minister to continue,” he said.

“I don’t think he would be even considering resigning if he had the support of his parliamentary group and I think reading between the lines, that’s not something that he can depend on now and that’s possibly why he’s been forced to seriously consider resigning.“

In Westminster, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News: “It does seem an extraordinary mess that he’s managed to get him and the SNP into. That they are now potentially going to be beholden to Alba.

“If you look at the SNP’s record, their obsession with independence, I’m afraid, has led to very poor outcomes when it comes to health, when it comes to education and a number of other areas.“

Senior Labour MP Ellie Reeves told Sky News there should be an election in Scotland amid the “chaos in the SNP”.

The SNP had been in a power-sharing agreement with the Greens since 2021 which gave the SNP a majority at Holyrood, as without it the party – then led by Nicola Sturgeon – would have had to operate as a minority administration.

But there had been mounting tensions between the two parties, which ended when the government decided to ditch its flagship target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030 after accepting it is now “out of reach”.

Before that there had been friction over the decision to pause the prescription of new puberty blockers to under-18s at Scotland’s only gender clinic, resulting in the Greens announcing they would have a vote on the future of the power-sharing deal.

The UK will not to take back asylum seekers who cross the border into Ireland “until the EU accepts that we can send them back to France”, according to a government source.

The comment comes amid an escalating row between Dublin and Westminster over the Irish government’s plans for new legislation to enable asylum seekers who cross the border from Northern Ireland to be sent back to the UK.

Irish justice minister Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee last week that more than 80% of recent arrivals in Ireland came via the land border with Northern Ireland.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister and foreign secretary Micheal Martin also said the threat of deportation to Rwanda was causing “fearful” migrants to head for Ireland instead of the UK.

As the row deepened on Sunday night, Irish prime minister Simon Harris, vowed the country would “not provide a loophole for anybody else’s migration challenges”.

He also said that “close” collaboration and cooperation between the British and Irish governments was “not just desirable, but absolutely essential”.

However, a UK government source said any bid to return asylum seekers from Ireland would be rejected unless France agreed to do the same with boats crossing the Channel.

“We won’t accept any asylum returns from the EU via Ireland until the EU accepts that we can send them back to France,” the source said.

It comes as figures showed the number of migrants that crossed the Channel in small boats during the first four months of the year was at its highest-ever level.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported on Sunday night that a major operation by the Home Office to detain migrants across the UK in preparation for their deportation to Rwanda had begun “weeks earlier than expected”. The report has not been verified by Sky News.

Ministers from both countries are set to meet in London on Monday as part of a pre-planned conference, involving Mr Martin and the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris.

However, a meeting between the UK home secretary, James Cleverly, and Ms McEntee, planned for Monday, was postponed late on Sunday night.

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‘A global challenge’

Mr Martin said the UK government’s Rwanda policy – which became law last week after much legal and political back-and-forth – had already impacted Ireland because people were “fearful” of staying in the UK.

“Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have,” the former taoiseach told The Daily Telegraph.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Sky News on Sunday that the UK’s Rwanda scheme was already working as a deterrent.

He also said the comments from Irish politicians showed that illegal migration was a “global challenge”.

“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe [they] will follow where the UK has led,” he said.

Mr Harris, who took over as taoiseach in April, is already facing pressure from voters to tackle migration in Ireland – which has seen anti-immigrant protests in recent months.

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He has asked his justice minister to “bring proposals to cabinet to amend existing law regarding the designation of safe ‘third countries’ and allowing the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK”.

Irish ministers are expected to discuss emergency legislation on Tuesday.

The legislation is being drafted in response to an Irish High Court ruling that found Ireland designating the UK as a “safe third country” for returning asylum seekers, in the context of the Rwanda plan, is contrary to EU law.

Ms McEntee said she would seek government approval for the legislation to be “rapidly drafted so that the UK can again be designated as a safe country for returns”.

“My department has been working on this as a priority since last month’s High Court judgment and I intend that returns to the UK will recommence once the law is enacted,” she added.

More human remains have been found in two locations as part of an investigation that started when a man’s torso was discovered in Salford.

Police believe the torso belongs to a man in his 60s and have informed his family about his death, but have not yet identified him publicly.

In a news conference today, officers revealed the victim is believed to have known two men who are currently in custody. They are believed to have lived together.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes said they were looking at four crime scenes in Salford and the Greater Manchester area.

The human remains discovered over the last two days were found at Salford’s Blackleach Reservoir and Linnyshaw Colliery Wood.

Officers had already identified the two scenes before the remains were found and were “on route to the Colliery Wood” when a member of the public called to say they had found a package, said Det Supt Hughes.

Police officers found the other remains at the reservoir today while searching the area.

“We are very confident it is the same victim,” Det Supt Hughes added.

The victim is believed to have died in late March.

Police are searching a warehouse in Bury where “items were stored after this incident without the knowledge of occupants of that warehouse,” said Det Supt Hughes.

They’re also searching a house in Winton where the victim “was believed to have lived with the two men in custody”.

The first remains – consisting of the bottom of the back, buttocks and thigh – were found in clear plastic by a passer-by at Kersal Dale Wetlands in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 4 April.

Two men, aged 42 and 68, from Salford, who are believed to be known to each other, were arrested on suspicion of murder on 25 April, GMP said, after officers trawled through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.

The 42-year-old was arrested after officers stormed a bus in Eccles Old Road around midday, the force said.

The other man was later arrested at an address in Worsley Road.

Read more:
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A 20-year-old man previously arrested on suspicion of murder was later released on bail pending further inquiries.

“It is too soon to rule out [looking for other suspects] but we’re confident at this time that we have the right two suspects in custody,” said Det Supt Hughes.

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Detectives are still appealing the public for any information related to the crime and want to hear from witnesses, including dog walkers, who were in the area between 6am and 6pm on the day a passer-by made the original grim discovery.

More than 100 officers searched the Kersal Dale area for 12 days looking for evidence, working with an underwater search team and dogs before lifting the crime scene on 17 April.