Most of Tuesday’s papers lead on Humza Yousaf’s resignation. He has been Scotland’s first minster for just over a year, serving as the party’s shortest leader since devolution.
The Scotsman describes Yousaf’s decision last week to scrap the SNP’s deal with the Greens as an extraordinary miscalculation that will go down in Holyrood history. The paper says he made the decision to resign on Sunday after a meeting with his closest advisers. A source said there was a “pretty strong consensus” that the other option – a deal with Alex Salmond’s Alba Party – was a non-starter.
In the Scottish Daily Mail, journalist Andrew Neil argues that hopes of Scottish independence are now “dead for a generation, if not longer”, adding that the union is safe for the foreseeable future. Neil describes Yousaf as a “hapless nonentity, who was never up to the job”.
“Swin It To Win It” is the Scottish Sun’s headline. The paper says Nicola Sturgeon’s former right-hand man, John Swinney, is “the hot favourite” to take over from Mr Yousaf.
The Guardian also says Swinney is the favourite, and a number of bookmakers have stopped taking bets on him.