Humza Yousaf to make life ‘very difficult’ for a Labour government without another independence vote

SNP leader Humza Yousaf today vowed to make life ‘very difficult’ for a Labour government if Keir Starmer doesn’t agree to another Scottish independence vote.

The First Minister threatened to block a Labour budget or key legislation at Westminster if Sir Keir’s party were to form a minority government in the event of a hung Parliament.

‘You don’t want to be frustrated at every single corner and every single turn,’ Mr Yousaf said, as he challenged Sir Keir to grant a fresh independence vote in such a scenario.

Labour are continuing to enjoy a sizeable lead over the Tories in opinion polling ahead of the next general election, which is expected next year.

But there has been consistent speculation about how Sir Keir might act if Labour fall short of securing a majority of seats in the House of Commons but end up as the largest part.

SNP leader Humza Yousaf vowed to make life ‘very difficult’ for a Labour government if Keir Starmer doesn’t agree to another Scottish independence vote

The First Minister threatened to block a Labour budget or key legislation at Westminster if Sir Keir’s party were to form a minority government in the event of a hung Parliament

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Asked if he was prepared to do a deal with Sir Keir to prop up a Labour minority administration, Mr Yousaf told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: ‘I’d say I’m prepared to do a deal with you because I want to see the back of the Tories, so I’ll work with any party – frankly – that’s progressive to see the back of the Tories.’

But the Scottish First Minister insisted the price of a deal with Labour if the SNP are left as kingmakers in a hung Parliament at Westminster would be another independence referendum.

‘Of course top of that list would be to have an independence referendum because that, of course, allows us to free ourselves of a Westminster that has made Scotland and the UK one of the most unequal countries,’ he added.

‘I don’t think it’s a massive surprise at all that if we were to cooperate with Labour then having that independence referendum would be top of that list.’

Pressed on whether the SNP could support a Labour minority government without Sir Keir agreeing to a fresh independence vote, Mr Yousaf refused to ‘get into negotiation’ before a date for the general election has even been announced.

Yet he suggested, without the promise of a referendum, the SNP could refuse to back a Labour government in key Commons’ votes.

‘We would never prop up the Tories but as somebody who has been part of a government for a long time – and there were some tricky times when we were a minority government – what you want as a government, particularly if you’re coming in fresh as a new government, you want stability,’ Mr Yousaf added.

‘You want to be able to get your budget through, you want to be able to get your legislative agenda through.

‘You don’t want to be frustrated at every single corner and every single turn.

‘We would never prop up a Conservative government ever. Underline that, put that in bold.

‘But, of course, if Labour do not want to co-operate with us, then we would make life very difficult for them.’

Amid revived Tory warnings of a ‘coalition of chaos’ after the next general election, Sir Keir has been forced to consistently rule out doing a deal with the SNP in the event of a hung Parliament.

But the Labour leader has been coy on whether he would enter a pact with the Liberal Democrats as a minority administration. 

Mr Yousaf was also asked about the ongoing police investigation into the SNP’s finances.

He said he could not comment on this but that he would tell party members and supporters that backing for independence is still ‘rock solid’.

The SNP leader said he had spoken to his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon recently and said she was ‘in a good place and doing well’.

He added: ‘Why would I not want to get some advice from arguably one of the best politicians, the most impressive politicians, Europe has seen over the last couple of decades?’