Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan enter SNP leadership race to replace Nicola Sturgeon

Battle lines were drawn at Holyrood this weekend as Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan entered the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister.

Launching his campaign, health secretary Yousaf, 37, told the Sunday Mail he was confident he had the “experience” to take on the “top job in the country”.  

The MSP for Glasgow Pollock vowed to oppose Westminster’s efforts to “overreach” its powers on the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill, which he claimed could be used against “any other bill we decide to pass as a majority”.

While former community safety minister Ash Regan said she would consider joining forces with Alex Salmond’s Alba party in an independence convention to secure Scotland’s exit from the UK.

Regan, 48, has also pledged to ditch controversial reforms to gender policy – which has seen her bid win the support of fellow SNP rebel Joanna Cherry, a critic of Sturgeon’s GRR bill.

The MSP for Edinburgh Eastern quit over her opposition to the GRR Bill, while Sturgeon faced a crisis after transgender double rapist Isla Bryson was sent to a women’s prison.

She told the Sunday Mail: “To women who have left the SNP, my message is that women’s rights would be 100 per cent safe with me.” 

Both candidates have until Friday to secure 100 nominations from at least 20 local branches to secure their place on the ballot, with the new SNP leader being announced on March 27.

It came as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer addressed Scottish Labour’s conference, calling on Scots to give the party a chance amid disarray following Sturgeon’s shock resignation.

Speaking in Edinburgh on Sunday, February 19, Starmer said: “This is a new era for Scotland and Britain… the tide is turning on the Tories and the SNP.

“I know the people of Scotland want change and hope.”

The Scottish National Party’s (SNP) lead over Labour fell to just two percentage points days before Sturgeon declared she was out, in a further blow to the independence movement.