Humza Yousaf urged to break 'umbilical cord' to Nicola Sturgeon by former SNP minister

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Humza Yousaf has been urged to break the "umbilical cord" tying him to Nicola Sturgeon by a former SNP MSP.Alex Neil said the more the new First Minister distanced himself from his predecessor "the better chance he has of succeeding".The veteran Nationalist also urged Yousaf to make a fresh bid to lure his leadership rival Kate Forbes back into the Cabinet in a bid to "reunite" the party.Sturgeon stunned the political world with her sudden resignation in February and the party was split by the bitter race to succeed her.The SNP was then rocked by the ramping-up of a long-running police investigation into its finances which saw the arrest of Sturgeon's husband, Peter Murrell.The former party chief executive was questioned for several hours by detectives on April 6 before being released without charge, pending further inquiries.

Police also searched Sturgeon's home and SNP headquarters in Edinburgh on the same day.Neil, who retired from parliament at the 2021 election, told the Record there was now a need for Yousaf to unify the party before it faced any further challenges."I think what he's got to do is have a complete change of regime," he said. "He has to bring Kate Forbes and some of her allies into the Cabinet to unite the party."It would be a lot easier to face challenges if you have a unified Cabinet as well as a unified party."He should also put an immediate stop to the cronyism at headquarters."Forbes previously served as finance secretary in Sturgeon's government.After losing narrowly to Yousaf in the SNP leadership contest, she chose to return to the backbenches after turning down the chance to become rural affairs secretary - which was widely viewed as a demotion.Neil voted for Forbes in the leadership ballot