Descendants of immigrants, from ordinary origins! Yusuf was elected First Minister of Scotland

Descendants of immigrants, from ordinary origins! Youssef succeeded Sturgeon as First Minister of Scotland

On March 3, former Scottish Health Minister Humuza Yusuf was elected head of the Scottish National Party, the ruling party in Scotland, and on the 27th, he became the first chief minister with a minority and Muslim background in the history of local government in Scotland, setting a number of historical records. In the face of many controversies and challenges, as a "radical independent" in Scottish politics, the 28-year-old Youssef may press the "fast forward button" for Scotland's "independence" cause.

Descendants of immigrants, of ordinary origin

According to Reuters on the 28th, in 1985, Yusuf was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and is a descendant of immigrants from Pakistan and Kenya. His ancestors moved to Scotland with their family back in the 60s. Unlike many of Britain's political elite, Yusuf is truly "grassroots": his father is an accountant, his mother is of Kenyan South Asian descent, and his family is forced to emigrate. His grandfather and maternal grandfather were ordinary workers, one in a bus company and the other in a sewing machine factory. In his victory speech, Yusuf spoke excitedly of his grandparents: "They were just immigrants who couldn't speak a word of English, and they probably never dreamed that their grandson would one day become the number one in Scotland." ”

Because of his skin color and origin, Yusuf was regarded as an "alien" by his classmates as early as when he was in school. In middle school, he was isolated by the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and instead of discussing football or other hobbies, classmates asked him, "Why do Muslims hate America?" Yusuf recalls that his family expected him to become a doctor or lawyer because of limited options, but he had a strong interest in politics from an early age and eventually gained the support of his father. My father had the foresight to say that their community needed someone to speak up in politics. Eventually, Yusuf entered the University of Glasgow, where he earned a BA in Political Science and a MA.

The journey has been smooth and controversial

Yusuf was passionate about student activities and community work during his college years and was president of the school's Muslim Student Association; He has also volunteered for refugee and homeless resettlement work. As early as 2005, he joined the Scottish National Party to focus on social justice and equality, advocate for minorities, and fight discrimination and hate speech.

Yusuf's political career was relatively smooth, and he entered the Scottish Parliament at the age of 26, the youngest member at the time. In order to show that he has not "forgotten his roots", he used Pakistani Urdu when he was sworn in. In 2012, Salmond, then Scottish Local Government Chief Minister, appointed him Minister of State for External Affairs and International Development, with a focus on trade policy and diaspora issues, becoming the first Asian and Muslim minister in the Scottish Government. In the 2018 Scottish government "shuffle", Sturgeon recruited him into the cabinet and promoted him to justice secretary.

However, Yusuf has not caused much controversy during his political career. According to the BBC, during his tenure as justice secretary, Yusuf pushed a core bill called the "Hate Crimes and Public Order Act", which was originally designed to protect minorities from hate speech, but because the content was too radical, it offended the British Catholic community, writers' groups, media and publishing industry, and was strongly questioned and had to be cut and modified.

During the new crown epidemic, Yusuf, then Minister of Health, created a series of "oolong events". In June 2021, he claimed that several children were hospitalized with coronavirus and had to apologize after being corrected by health authorities, according to the British newspaper The Observer. The Observer said that in order to reduce the average waiting time for ambulances, he called on the public to "think twice" before calling 6 in September of the same year, and was again criticized for "putting people's lives at risk". A mobile app in charge of Scotland's health department was also "bombarded" by people during the epidemic: it repeatedly reported errors after it went online and could not display people's vaccination records. Most ironically, Yusuf was fined £9 for a traffic offence in 999 – when he was Scottish Transport Minister. Scottish Chancellor of the Exchequer Kate Forbes said the waiting list for patients during Yusuf's tenure as health secretary was the longest ever, and trains were never on time during his tenure as transport minister.

"Hang 5 gears" to promote Scotland's "independence"

Al Jazeera said Yusuf was deeply influenced by Salmond in his early years and was convinced that "the struggle for independence is the only way for Scotland to avoid war". In his victory speech, he re-emphasised his political stance, promising an "independent Scotland" for the people. He said that during his tenure as Scotland's first minister, he would "step on the throttle" to "step on the 5th gear" to promote the cause of "independence". In Yusuf's view, Scots today "yearn more than ever for independence".

The BBC analysis said that in addition to "Scottish independence", Yusuf also faced many challenges after taking office. For example, during Sturgeon's leadership of the party, internal divisions were so severe that Yusuf won only narrowly, and the first major challenge he faced after taking office was how to achieve party unity. Not only that, but he also faces thorny problems such as the cost of living crisis for the people of Scotland and the overburdening of the NHS.

(Source: Global Times)