Humza Yousaf’s position increasingly unstable as MPs warn against deal with Salmond

Mr Salmond said his Alba Party could help get the First Minister ‘out of a very tight corner’

Humza Yousaf’s position is looking increasingly precarious as figures in his own party warned against any deal with Alex Salmond, and the Greens insisted they would not change their minds and back him.

The First Minister was told he must “face the consequences” of his decision to rip up the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Greens.

The coming days will decide Mr Yousaf’s political future as he faces two no confidence votes in Holyrood - one aimed at him as First Minister, and the other at his government.

Humza Yousaf has written to opposition party leaders as he seeks to save his political future

Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Greens, said she “cannot imagine” her party will change its mind and support Mr Yousaf following his “spectacular breach of trust”.

But Mr Salmond said his Alba Party could help get the First Minister “out of a very tight corner” if certain “reasonable proposals” are agreed to.

Mr Yousaf terminated the power-sharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens on Thursday, leading the smaller pro-independence party to announce they would back a motion of no confidence in his leadership.

The tight parliamentary arithmetic at the Scottish Parliament, where the SNP has 63 out of 128 voting MSPs, means the support of Alba’s sole MSP, Ash Regan, may be needed to get Mr Yousaf over the line.

First Minister Humza Yousaf. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

However, it would not give him the majority required to pass legislation in future, meaning he would still have to work with other parties to get things done. It would also prove hugely controversial within the SNP.

Mr Salmond said yesterday: “What Ash Regan will do in the meetings she’s been invited to by Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, is make a set of reasonable proposals to help him out of a very tight corner and put Scotland back on a sensible governmental road.

“Stressing the priority of independence for Scotland, the protection of women and girls in Scottish society and a return of the government to the things that matter to the people – education, health, housing and, above all, the economy and jobs.”

He said Mr Yousaf is in a “very difficult position” and appeared to be open to “moving away from the identity agenda which has caused so much disruption in Scottish society”.

Mr Salmond also said he was hoping for a “positive outcome”. He said: “That’s why we’re putting forward constructive proposals. We have obviously to prepare that things don’t work out, in which case there could be an election in Scotland. There are other possibilities as well.

"And that’s why the Alba executive are meeting this afternoon to prepare for an election, just in case there’s not a positive outcome from the talks.”

Alba later said it had agreed to move to a Scottish Parliament election footing.

Figures within the SNP warned against any deal with Mr Salmond’s party. Pete Wishart, the long-serving Nationalist MP, tweeted: “Alex obviously loving all this attention this morning, as he should, with his party having never had anybody elected to anything. He now wants to exert influence over our government and he must be told quite clearly that can never, ever, happen.”

SNP MP Stewart McDonald rejected the idea of an electoral pact with Alba, which had also been dismissed as a “fantasy” by those around Mr Yousaf. Mr McDonald tweeted: “Never a question we could do a deal with Salmond - a former host on RT. It would go down like a bucket of cold sick with voters and be met with horror in European capitals. To cut a deal with such a figure as Russian bombs thud into Ukraine would be reputation shredding.”

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford meanwhile apologised to the Greens while appearing on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show.

He said: “I would ask them to think very carefully ahead of this week of the values that we both have and about making sure that we can deliver that stable government, supporting the First Minister. I apologise for what has happened this week. It could have happened in a different way. But we are where we are.”

He added: “Think very carefully about where we are today. Think about the obligation that we have to get to our climate reduction targets for 2045. Things we can work together [on].

"I would say to them today, don’t throw that away this week. Show your faith and trust in the First Minister. We are where we are, but we can make sure that this government can deliver on the priorities of the people of Scotland if we make sure that Humza Yousaf remains our First Minister.”

Ms Slater and the First Minister had lost her party’s confidence and trust. She said: “We will vote in support of a vote of no confidence against Humza Yousaf. I cannot imagine anything at this point that could change that position. This was a spectacular breach of trust.”

She said the Bute House Agreement was based on “mutual trust and respect” and Mr Yousaf had broken that and needed to “face the consequences”.

Ms Slater said the Greens had received a letter from Mr Yousaf and “have not yet had a conversation about how we're going to respond to that”.

The First Minister has written to all of Holyrood’s political leaders to seek “common ground”. Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said it was a “humiliating and embarrassing letter”.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also rejected the offer of talks, telling Mr Yousaf: “Your actions this past week have eroded entirely any remaining trust that you enjoyed across the chamber. They suggest that rather than being motivated by the national interest, you are presently motivated only by your own self-interest and by political survival.”

A Scottish Labour spokeswoman said: “We will respond to this letter in due course. However, it is clear that Humza Yousaf has lost the confidence of parliament and the public. There is nothing he can do to change Scottish Labour, or the public’s, mind about that.”

The First Minister is expected to hold a meeting with Ms Regan in Bute House, his official residence in Edinburgh, in the coming days.

A source close to Mr Yousaf said talks with the Greens remain ongoing, although there did not appear to be any expectation of a breakthrough. Green MSPs are due to meet on Monday afternoon to discuss the events of recent days.