Tories declare 'job done' as Humza Yousaf no confidence vote is withdrawn

Douglas Ross will no longer press ahead with his motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf – because it has achieved its goal of forcing the first minister to quit.

The Scottish Conservative leader has today formally withdrawn his parliamentary motion – which led to the SNP leader’s resignation by winning the support of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green MSPs – after declaring: "Job done."

The party has asked that the half-hour slot provisionally allocated for a vote on Yousaf's performance tomorrow is instead given over to the lord advocate for a statement on the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Yousaf announced his intention to resign on Monday afternoon.

Ross said: "I'm delighted that the Scottish Conservative motion of no confidence in Humza Yousaf achieved its purpose by forcing him to resign.

"While on a personal level I wish him well for the future, he was a disaster as first minister and it's in Scotland's interests that he goes. 

"The next goal for my party is to see off this feuding, failing SNP government and switch the focus away from their independence obsession and on to the public's real priorities – such as growing the economy and improving Scotland's ailing public services.

"As it's job done in terms of Humza Yousaf, there's no longer any need for us to press ahead with a debate on our no-confidence motion."

The motion was one of two confidence votes put forward last week after Yousaf ended the Bute House Agreement partnership with the Greens.

That left the SNP minority administration without Green votes to protect ministers from such challenges.

The second confidence vote, put forward by Labour's Anas Sarwar on the Scottish Government itself, has not been withdrawn.

Resigning, Yousaf said: "After spending the weekend reflecting on what is best for my party, for the government and for the country I lead, I've concluded that repairing our relationship across the political divide can only be done with someone else at the helm. I have therefore informed the SNP's national secretary of my intention to stand down as party leader and ask that she commences a leadership contest for my replacement as soon as possible.

"In order to ensure a smooth and orderly transition, it is my intention to continue as first minister until my successor has been elected, particularly as the parliament will be debating some incredibly important legislation in the coming days and the coming weeks."