Humza Yousaf ‘set to quit TODAY’ as desperate SNP leader fails to drum up support

HUMZA Yousaf is preparing to step down as First Minister today, sources have revealed.

The SNP leader has been desperately fighting to save his skin since last week when his axing of the SNP-Green coalition backfired and the Greens vowed to back a Tory no-confidence motion in him.

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He has spent the weekend trying to drum up support.

But a source told the : “Humza knows what’s best for the country and the party.

"He is first party activist and a party man, and that’s why he knows it’s time for someone else.”

It’s claimed Mr Yousaf may quit as soon as today.

And this morning, a spokesman for the First Minister did not dent this was the plan, when asked by the Scottish Sun.

It comes after Mr Yousaf rejected a potential deal with the one MSP who could save his job on Saturday night.

Alex Salmond, the leader of the Alba Party, set out demands for an electoral pact as the price for the support for Ash Regan.

But a spokesperson for Mr Yousaf dismissed it as "fantasy" to The Scottish Sun on the same day.

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Mr Yousaf was warned striking a deal with Mr Salmond's party to save his future as First Minister would be "reputation shredding".

He rejected demands by Alba to sign up to an electoral pact in exchange for the support of ex-Nat Ash Regan.

The First Minister could be reliant on his former Nats leadership rival Ms Regan — who defected to Alba last October — to survive.

And sources close to Mr Yousaf’s other defeated leadership hopeful Kate Forbes suggested she is “gearing up” for a fresh bid for the top job if he is forced out of office.

Warning against striking a pact with Mr Salmond, senior SNP MP Stewart McDonald referenced the former First Minister’s TV chat show on Russia Today.

He said: “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.”