HUMZA Yousaf has dismissed Ash Regan’s plea to allow those who have already voted in the SNP leadership contest to change their mind.
The Health Secretary said changing the system just one week out from the close of the ballot could “could probably cause some level of confusion.”
GET THE LATEST HERALD SUBSCRIPTION OFFER: Subscriptions from HeraldScotland
Earlier today, Ms Regan said she had been reassured about the integrity of the vote following on from the last week’s chaos. However, she suggested members should be able to "update" their vote.
She claimed this would “have the benefit of not disrupting members who are happy with their vote while providing an opportunity to reconsider for those who are not.”
There have been calls too for the ballot to be cancelled.
READ MORE: Regan calls for SNP members to be able to change vote
During a campaign stop at the headquarters of the Who Cares? Scotland organisation in Glasgow. Mr Yousaf told the PA that with all three candidates now promising to respect the outcome of the ballot, it should carry on as planned.
“It’s clear that all three candidates have now said that they have faith in the integrity and all three candidates will respect the outcome of the ballot.
“I’m pleased the other candidates have agreed with my position which I’ve had from the beginning which is that the integrity of the ballot is not in question.”
Asked about Ms Regan’s proposal, he said: “I just don’t think it’s needed given that all three candidates say that they respect the integrity of the ballot but also that they will respect the outcome.
“I don’t know why, in the last week, we’d want to change the system which could probably cause some level of confusion.”
READ MORE: Sturgeon says she has left her successor 'a brilliant foundation'
Mr Yousaf also said he disagreed with SNP president, and interim chief executive, Mike Russell, that the party was in a “tremendous mess”.
He said: “The last 72 hours have clearly not been great for the SNP and the issue around the membership numbers was an avoidable own goal that shouldn’t have happened. I agree with that.
“I don’t think the party is in a tremendous mess. I think we’re still a party that enjoys the most popular support, and by far the largest party in Scotland, and we shouldn’t ever take that for granted.
“There’s an opportunity, there’s difficulty with transition, there’s no getting away from that, but there’s also an opportunity with transition.
“With a new leader of the SNP, a new chief executive of the SNP, there’s a chance to do things differently, to re-energise and refresh and build upon the good legacy that Nicola Sturgeon and indeed Peter have left us.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel