'I don't know if there's a future for me in the United Kingdom' says Humza Yousaf amid riots
7 August 2024, 15:29
Scottish former First Minister Humza Yousaf has said he is unsure if there is a future for him in the UK amid the rioting that has rocked the country over the past week.
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Mr Yousaf, who stepped down earlier this year, told the News Agents that the riots had made him question his family's very " "existence" in the UK.
A wave of dozens of riots, many targeting Muslims, has swept over the UK over the past week since the killing of three young girls in Southport and false information that spread online in the aftermath.
Mr Yousaf called the riots "utterly horrendous" and said he felt that his "very sense of belonging" was being questioned.
He added: "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.
Listen to the interview on the News Agents on Global Player
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"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."
Scotland has remained largely free of the disorder that has plagued England over the past week, but now officers north of the border are preparing for protests in the coming days.
Mr Yousaf said: "That genuinely makes me question whether or not my family has an existence here in the UK or not."
He recalled how, as a child, he thought that his father's fear he may once have to leave the UK was a "ridiculous suggestion".
But he said he now finds himself considering the same question, although he insisted he did not want to leave.
The former First Minister laid the blame for the recent violent disorder at the door of some right-wing politicians.
He said: "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".
Mr Yousaf said: "You have Nigel Farage, who has called Muslims, 'a fifth column, who are trying to kill us'
Mr Farage made the comments twice, in 2015 and 2017.
"He has demonised Muslims and migrants for decades," Mr Yousaf said. "He's made a living, quite literally, out of it."
Mr Yousaf added: "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 and was re-elected this year after standing for Farage's party Reform UK.
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"When people talk about concerns about migrants, or legitimate concerns around migrants, they're beating up black, Asian and Muslim people," Mr Yousaf added.
"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."
He said he was trying to remain optimistic about the state of the country, despite the riots, telling his family that "the majority of people are good people."
And he cited Rishi Sunak, Sadiq Khan and himself as examples of the UK's "strong history and heritage of multiculturalism."
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Mr Yousaf said: "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."
