Achi news desk-
The leader of the Conservatives, Douglas Ross, immediately announced that a motion of no confidence would be tabled – but what does it really mean?
Here’s what you need to know.
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How does the vote work?
A simple majority will carry the day either way, and no abstention will be taken into account.
What is likely to happen?
There are 129 MLAs in the Scottish Parliament. One is the president, who does not vote except to break ties and even in that case convention is that the status quo would be maintained.
The SNP currently has 63 MLAs, the Scottish Conservatives 31, Scottish Labor 22, the Scottish Greens seven, the Scottish Liberal Democrats four and Alba one, Ash Regan.
Arithmetic fans will have noticed that means that if all SNP members vote against the motion of no confidence they would only need one person from another party to vote with them to make it a tie, and if so the president Alison Johnstone would likely vote in Mr. favor Yousaf to maintain the status quo.
We already know that the Conservatives, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats will express no confidence so the ‘casting vote’ is likely to come down to Ash Regan, Scotland’s only MSP.
Will the Prime Minister have to resign if he loses?
No.
The Conservatives have called for a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister, not in his government.
That is a key difference. If a chamber votes that it has no confidence in the government, all ministers are automatically dismissed and there is a period of 28 days for a new administration to be formed.
If not, an election would be called.
However, a vote of no confidence does not require the First Minister to do anything – how he responds is entirely up to him.
Why haven’t they tabled a motion of no confidence in the government?
Apparently Mr Ross believes that it is unlikely that the Greens would vote to bring down the government, but that they may be willing to bring down the Prime Minister.
That has been reflected in co-leader Patrick Harvie’s choice of language when speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme.
He said: “It is up to the President to choose a proposal if one is presented.
“The only one I have seen in draft form is a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister. If that is selected, we would have to vote for that.
“It is very clear that Humza Yousaf has decided to burn his bridges with the progressive, pro-independence majority established in the Bute House Agreement.”
Would he resign?
That’s a different question. If he lost the vote of no confidence then Holyrood would have made it clear that he did not want Mr Yousaf as Prime Minister.
If he could keep all these SNP MLAs on the sidelines then he could stay on, given that the intention is to govern as a minority government anyway, although that would be unlikely – it probably would he has to step aside.
However, if some of his MLAs rebelled it could make it practically difficult for the First Minister to continue even if he was under no obligation to stand down.
