THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY: NEW LEADER, OLD ISSUES

Abstract

On March 27, 2023, the election of the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) ended with the victory of the Health Secretary, H. Yousaf, who outperformed his rivals, the Secretary for Finance and the Economy, K. Forbes, and the former Minister for Community Safety, E. Regan. The need to change the leadership of the party was caused by the controversial gender reform of N. Sturgeon, the large financial fraud of her husband P. Murrell, the executive director of the SNP, as well as the inefficient socio-economic course of the Scottish government, which concentrated on the second Scottish independence referendum, forgetting about the pressing problems of the region. London has repeatedly blocked attempts by Scottish nationalists to hold a new referendum, and in November 2022, the UK Supreme Court rejected the relevant SNP claim. The ineffectiveness of the struggle for the independence reduced the confidence of the Scottish nationalists in the correctness of N. Sturgeon’s strategy. In February 2023, she voluntarily resigned, leaving the party in a state of crisis. The new leader, H. Yousaf, plans to continue the political line of his predecessor, but this move can only deepen the split that already exists within the SNP and reduce its chances on the next general elections. The purpose of the article is to analyze the methods and results of the struggle for the independence of Scotland, when the SNP was headed by N. Sturgeon (2014–2023), the election campaign for the post of the new leader of the party, which took place after her resignation, and the prospects of the SNP under H. Yousaf.