A GREEN MSP who launched an emotional attack on Humza Yousaf after his decision to end the Bute House Agreement has insisted she bears “no ill will” against him.
Speaking exclusively to The National, Gillian Mackay said she felt “desperately sorry” for the First Minister following his resignation, adding she hoped he and his family could now enjoy some “peace and downtime”.
Mackay burst into tears during an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime on Friday saying it was “really sad” the Bute House Agreement had been “undone by one person”.
She said: “We don’t want to be in this position, but it’s the First Minister that has put us here.”
But Mackay – who will speak in the Stage 1 debate for her Safe Access Zones Bill on Tuesday amid SNP political turmoil – insisted she and her Green colleagues hold no grudges against Yousaf.
READ MORE: Date confirmed for debate on no confidence motion in Scottish Government
She told The National: “I feel desperately sorry for Humza. He’s had a hell of a year. He’s had a whole heap of racism thrown at him, all the stuff with is in-laws in Gaza, all that personal worry and stress, and I think the ultimate thing is we actually bear no ill will to him personally.
“He made some bad political decisions which have ramifications and, actually, I really hope that him and Nadia and the family all now get some peace to be able to have some downtime, prepare for the wee one coming and get some time where he is not facing all that animosity.
“[There is] absolutely no ill will to him or anyone else in the SNP for that matter.
“It’s very easy to pedal the narrative that we’re all at each other’s throats because that’s what politics is portrayed as a lot of the time, and that’s where I think the public do want us to be adults and absolutely hold each other to account, but be able to come back together and think about what comes next.”
Yousaf said in his resignation speech he "underestimated the level of hurt and upset" he caused for the Greens by ending the power-sharing deal.
Mackay added she hoped the first chamber debate on her bill – which if passed will make it illegal for anti-abortion protesters to demonstrate within 200m of a clinic providing such a service – would be a moment for the Parliament to “unify” and “focus”.
However, she admitted she’d have preferred not to have the debate in the current climate.
READ MORE: Owen Jones: Those celebrating Humza Yousaf's fall should beware
Asked how it felt to bring forward legislation amid such turbulence at Holyrood, she said: “Thoroughly weird. I don’t think we’ve gotten over last week in any way but we have to be pleased we have got to this stage.
“I feel a wee bit conflicted because I do feel quite sorry for the First Minister and the time the SNP will have to go through now and it feels weird being elated at my own work in that context, but we should be pleased we’ve got to this point.
“Hopefully we’ll get a really strong result, but if you’d asked me to pick which week I’d have had this debate in I don’t think it would’ve been this one.”
The Stage 1 debate will be the first opportunity MSPs get to vote on the general principles of the Safe Access Zones Bill before amendments are brought forward. The legislation has majority support from MSPs.
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