Humza Yousaf, the one BME SNP MSP: humzayousaf.org
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has held the reins of power at Holyrood since 2007. By the end of the SNP’s third term in office they will have been in government for more than a decade. With the opinion polls suggesting that victory was all but assured, BBC Newsnight facilitated a discussion prior polling day about whether the SNP had become part of the ‘political establishment’. This debate gathered more pace following the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon being photographed with a copy of The Sun.
In considering this question there is an important area of debate, which is all too often relegated to the periphery of Scottish politics that we might want to consider: the SNP’s record on tackling both racism and ethnic inequality. Here there are several ways that we can assess whether the SNP are similar to Labour and the Conservatives: the party’s rhetoric; racism within the SNP; ethnic minority representation in the party and the Scottish government; and the progress the SNP have made in terms of tackling both racism and ethnic inequality after two full terms in office.
