Humza Yousaf: Leaving the UK Will Attract More People To Help Scotland’s ‘Demographic Challenge’

Scotland's First Minister said he 'probably wouldn’t' keep his British citizenship

First Minister Humza Yousaf at the launch of a policy paper on citizenship in an independent Scotland, at the National Records Of Scotland in Edinburgh. Dated July 27, 2023. Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has said that leaving the UK will attract more people to help the “demographic challenge” Scotland faces, as part of his proposition to set out an “inclusive” model of citizenship after independence.

Ahead of pursuing a second referendum, Mr. Yousaf, who describes himself as a “proud Scottish Pakistani,” set out his approach to citizenship in an independent Scotland.

The first minister said: “We know that one of the biggest challenges we face is that demographic challenge, and therefore having more people of working age coming here contributing, living, studying, working in Scotland, I think is a good thing.”

Speaking ahead of the announcement, he added that the proposals are “inclusive, bold and they will help boost both our population and economy.”

“Scotland’s working population is being hit by a heartless Westminster migration system that isn’t fit for purpose and a hard Brexit that Scotland didn’t vote for, making our population challenges significantly worse.

“I am in no doubt that alongside the climate crisis, the challenges of an ageing population are one of the biggest issues future generations will face in Scotland, unless action is taken today.

“The Scottish government wants to make it easier for people, including those seeking to reconnect with family roots, to gain citizenship and contribute to our economy, society and public services like the NHS.

“And when we re-join the EU as an independent country, Scottish citizens will be able to enjoy all the benefits of EU citizenship too.”

He added that an “independent Scotland will be a welcoming country as part of our ambition to be an inclusive, progressive and prosperous nation.”

Asked by the publication Holyrood if he would keep his British citizenship, Mr. Yousaf said: “I’ve not thought much about it, but I probably wouldn’t.”

Increased Immigration

The Scottish government has advocated for increased immigration with former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon publishing plans for a separate Scottish visa in 2020.

At the time, it said that in contrast to the rest of the UK, all of Scotland’s population growth for the next 25 years is projected to come from migration.

However this was rejected by Westminster.

Mr. Yousaf claimed that “If there was a referendum tomorrow, we would win it and win it comprehensively.

“That’s also part of the reason why of course I’m publishing these papers, because they help to make the argument, give people the information they need to make that informed decision about independence.”

At the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 55.3 percent of Scots voted for Scotland to remain a constituent nation within the United Kingdom.

He added that an independent Scotland would adopt a similar system for citizenship as Ireland, allowing people born elsewhere to apply to become Scottish citizens if they have a Scottish parent.

Mr. Yousaf said that people would also have the option to opt out of Scottish citizenship and retain sole British citizenship, have dual citizenship, or fully renounce their British citizenship and have only Scottish citizenship.

‘Inclusive’

The Scottish government said that independence would “create in law a new nationality and would give the people of Scotland an opportunity to be part of that inclusive national identity.”

This also includes a commitment to establish an independent migrants’ commissioner.

It added that it would lower the fee for citizenship by £800 per application, which currently costs £1,330 for an adult.

Writing in The Spectator, Professor Andrew Tettenborn, common-law and continental jurisdictions scholar and advisor to the Free Speech Union warned that by “constitutionalising the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other treaties in practice is likely to transfer worrying amounts of power outside Scotland entirely.”

In June, Mr. Humza announced a new constitution that would see it, if it attains independence, becoming “a world leader in incorporating, implementing and advancing equality and internationally derived human rights obligations in Scotland’s constitution and beyond.”

“ECHR, for example, would it seems be not only enacted as part of Scots law but constitutionalised,” wrote Mr. Tettenborn, adding that UN human rights treaties “are constantly being reinterpreted by UN functionaries–often in an overwhelmingly interventionist and leftward direction.”

Mr. Tettenborn told The Epoch Times, “How has Scotland fallen from the home of the Enlightenment to the home of literal obedience to every human rights norm in the book?”

‘Eliminates The Concept of Citizenship’

Richard Lucas, leader of the socially conservative Scotland Scottish Family Party (SFP) told The Epoch Times that he believed there the SNP was streamlining the process of citizenship.

Mr. Lucas said that he believed that the SNP doesn’t “recognise nationhood as a significant concept.”

He said that the mulled citizenship rules “eliminates the concept of citizenship in any meaningful sense because their idea is that a state is just an administrative region and people are just a part of whichever administrative region they just happen to be living in at that time.”

“Whereas, the nationalist view is that the nation as the state is really important as a community you are part of, that you have a special responsibility to, have a special loyalty to,” he said.

The Epoch Times contacted the Scottish National Party for comment.

PA Media contributed to this report.