A senior Labour MP launched an astonishing attack on SNP leadership favourite Hamsa Yousaf over claims that he skipped a crucial vote on gay marriage a decade ago.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is openly gay, challenged Scotland’s Health Minister’s claim that he had been unable to attend the vote in 2014.
It was common knowledge that Mr Yousaf was in the Scottish Parliament that day, said Mr Streeting.
‘It’s all very well being courageous about equality when the battle has been fought and won. But where were you, Hamsa, when the battle was ongoing?’
Defending his provocative intervention, Mr Streeting said: ‘It is perfectly reasonable to ask Mr Yousaf if he supports equal marriage, as he says he does, “why did you abstain in the vote?” – when everyone knows he was in the Scottish Parliament that day.’
Mr Streeting’s remarks will be seen by some as an attempt by Labour to capitalise on the disarray in SNP ranks following the resignation of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Labour strategists see it as a huge opportunity to win back power lost to the SNP in recent years.
The row over Mr Yousaf’s stance on gay marriage erupted after his main rival to succeed Ms Sturgeon, Scotland’s Finance Minister Kate Forbes came under fire over the same issue.
Her leadership campaign seemed to have imploded after she said that as a result of her Christian faith, she would not have voted for gay marriage had she been a member of the Scottish Parliament at the time.
Mr Yousaf, who says he supports equal marriage, has denied deliberately skipping the key vote on gay marriage in 2014 – despite setting up a diary clash 19 days beforehand.
The Scottish health secretary said he had a meeting on the day of the vote on the case of a Scottish citizen on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy.
Asked by ITV Border about whether he could have rearranged his diary to be there, Mr Yousaf insisted that he had missed it “for good reason”.
Mr Yousaf said: “I was meeting the Pakistan consulate over a very important case that was a Scottish citizen in Pakistan on death row for the issue of blasphemy.”
SNP leadership candidate Humza Yousaf
“It was not a meeting that I felt could be avoided. But also I had stated very publicly by that point as well, very publicly, my support for equal marriage,” he added.
But records show that the Scottish citizen Mohammad Ashgar was not sentenced to death in Pakistan until a week after Mr Yousaf set up the meeting on 16 January 2014.
Asked whether he had been under pressure from the Muslim community to miss it, Mr Yousaf said: “I won’t lie to you, there will be some difficult conversations sometimes with what you describe as ‘my community’.”
Mr Yousaf, who had voted for the same-sex marriage bill at an earlier stage, added: “I have no problem saying to you, unequivocally, as I did in 2014, that I support equality for all.”
External affairs secretary at the time, Mr Yousaf was the only Scottish government minister to skip the historic final vote which saw same-sex marriage made legal in Scotland.
The SNP leadership hopeful, bookmakers’ favourite to win the contest, suggested the issue had been “resurrected” to undermine his campaign.
Asked about it by Sky News on Thursday, he said: “It’s incredible that in the years that have proceeded since then nobody has ever raised. It seems to me somewhat convenient that’s happening during the election leadership bid.”
It comes as Ms Forbes, a devout Christian, offered an apology for the hurt caused by the remarks on gay marriage and pledged to protect the rights of all Scots.
The finance secretary, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, said she felt “greatly burdened” that offence had been caused by her views on social issues. She added: “It is possible to be a person of faith, and to defend others’ rights to have no faith or a different faith.”
The Free Church of Scotland condemned the “anti-Christian intolerance” it claimed had been shown to Ms Forbes, saying it demonstrated “a level of bigotry that has no place in a pluralistic and diverse society”.
Despite saying she would not wade in on the SNP contest to find her successor, Ms Sturgeon made pointed remarks about the Forbes row, saying scrutiny of their personal views was legitimate.
“Whoever is first minister, the views that they have on all sorts of issues matter,” said the departing first minister. “Because people look to their first minister to see someone who will stand up for them and their rights.”
Nominations for the SNP leadership race close on Friday, with Mr Yousaf, Ms Forbes and Ash Regan expected to garner enough support to progress to the members’ vote. The new SNP leader will be announced on March 27.
