Humza Yousaf: 'I don't know if there's a future for me in the United Kingdom'
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Former First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf blames politicians such as Nigel Farage for demonising Muslims and migrants in the UK.
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In brief...
- Humza Yousaf spoke of his concern over the recent racist riots in the UK, which targeted Muslims and asylum seekers, questioning if his family has a future in the UK.
- He criticised politicians like Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson for their Islamophobic rhetoric, which he believes has contributed to the current hostile environment.
- However, he emphasises his belief that most people in the UK are good and oppose such racism.
Scottish Muslim politician Humza Yousaf has spoken about the impact of the racist riots which have swept the UK in the past week, telling The News Agents he is no longer sure if his family has "an existence" in the UK.
Shocking scenes of violence, targeting Muslims and asylum seekers have hit towns and cities in the week following the brutal knife attack on a children's summer dance class in Southport, which claimed the lives of three young girls.
There have been instances of rioting, looting and attempted murder – with a hotel in Rotherham set on fire by far-right thugs, who also blocked doors to prevent people inside from escaping. No one inside was injured.
Humza Yousaf questions if there’s a future for him and his family in Scotland or the UK
Yousaf, former leader of the Scottish National Party and current Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Pollok has said the scenes are "utterly horrendous".
"It is a strange feeling when your very sense of belonging is questioned," he tells The News Agents.
"I'm about as Scottish as they come. Born in Scotland, raised in Scotland, educated in Scotland, just welcomed my third child here in Scotland, was the leader of the Scottish Government for just over a year."
"But the truth of the matter is, I don't know whether the future for me and my wife and my three children is going to be here in Scotland or the United Kingdom, or indeed in Europe and the West, because I have, for some time, really worried about the rise of Islamophobia."
Now, he has seen his fears play out on the streets of England, with police in Scotland preparing for planned 'protests' to take place north of the border in the coming days.
"That genuinely makes me question whether or not my family has an existence here in the UK or not," he adds.
Yousaf also recalls how, as a child, he would laugh at his father having Pakistani identity cards and passports for his family, saying he once considered his dads fears they may one day need to leave the country a "ridiculous suggestion". Now, that's exactly what he finds himself considering.
He insists he does not want to leave, declaring his love for Scotland and the United Kingdom more broadly, citing the political positions of Rishi Sunak, Sadiq Khan, and his own time as Scotland's First Minister as examples of the UK's "strong history and heritage of multiculturalism:".
But he also places blame on some of the UK's politicians for the disturbing events witnessed in the UK in recent days.
"I could give you example after example, of where the language of the far right, driven by Islamophobia, has now become institutionalised in our politics," he says, naming Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and "a former Home Secretary" as three individuals who have stoked the flames of racism and Islamophobia in the UK with their rhetoric. He has praised Keir Starmer's response to the riots.
"You have Nigel Farage, who has called Muslims, 'a fifth column, who are trying to kill us'," Yousaf continues.
"He has demonised Muslims and migrants for decades. He's made a living, quite literally, out of it."
Farage made his comments in 2015 when he was leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and later repeated the claim in 2017 following the Westminster terror attack.
The term "fifth column" emerged during the Spanish Civil War, and was used to describe a group that rises up from within another group to cause harm or sabotage.
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, he describes as being seen by some as a "fringe character" in politics, but while that may be true now, he was the deputy chair of the Conservative Party until earlier in 2024.
"You have Lee Anderson, who you can dismiss as some kind of fringe character, but he was until a few months ago, the deputy chair of the Conservative Party, who, of course, said that the Muslim Mayor of London was being controlled by Islamists.
Anderson was suspended from the Conservatives for his remarks.
"When people talk about concerns about migrants, or legitimate concerns around migrants, they're beating up black, Asian and Muslim people," Yousaf adds.
"They're not going after Ukrainian refugees. They're not going after European migrants. We don't want them going after anybody, but they are going after people who are black, who are Asian, who are Muslim.
"That, again, comes back to some of the language that's been used far too often in our politics about people not adopting our values."
But despite all this, Yousaf tells The News Agents he continues to tell his family, which now includes his third daughter who was born in July, that "the majority of people are good people."
"Whenever the minority are racist or Islamophobic, they are drowned out. They are outnumbered by the very good people of the United Kingdom.
"The flip side of all the negativity is the positive messages I've received, and I'm certain Muslims have received right up and down the entire United Kingdom.
"But in truth, when I'm asked the question, do you think Hamza, somebody who's been in a very senior political position, do you think that the United Kingdom is a safe place for us to bring up our families in the future? My answer to them, truthfully, is I just don't know."
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