Humza Yousaf is courting controversial Scottish businessman Sir Brian Souter in the face of a looming SNP cash crisis, with donations drying up following a police probe into the party’s finances.
Sir Brian, who is the co-founder of the Stagecoach transport empire, gave the party more than £2.5million during Alex Salmond’s reign as First Minister from 2007 and 2014.
He pulled the plug when Mr Salmond was replaced by Nicola Sturgeon. However, papers released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed he has been approached by Mr Yousaf, who replaced Ms Sturgeon last year.
The revelations, published by Politico, showed Mr Yousaf drafted in Sir Brian to help organise a dinner in a bid to smooth things over with the business community after a choppy few years during Ms Sturgeon’s tenure.
The tycoon was persuaded to help “nudge” other business figures to attend the event as a result of an email exchange between an aide and Mr Yousaf’s chief of staff, Colin McAllister.
The “Business Leaders Dinner” took place on July 27, 2023, at Edinburgh’s five-star Prestonfield House Hotel.
Worryingly for Mr Yousaf, data released last month indicated that private donations are drying up, totalling less than £10,000 since he came to power in March 2023.
His appointment has coincided with a difficult period for the SNP, with the ongoing police probe seeing high-ranking figures including Ms Sturgeon herself arrested – although she has not been charged with any offence.
Business leaders are also uneasy about last month’s Scottish Budget, during which income taxes were increased once more.
Mr Yousaf’s decision to approach Sir Brian is also likely to antagonise coalition partners in the Green Party as a result of his socially conservative opinions.
A member of an evangelical church based in the US, in 2000 he spent money on a campaign to try and stop the Labour-led Scottish government from removing legislation stopping councils from “intentionally promoting” homosexuality in schools.
The email chain between Mr McAllister and the aide, during June and July of last year, followed a meeting between Mr Yousaf and Sir Brian at Scotland’s National Prayer Breakfast, an annual religious event.
Mr McAllister offered a list of potential invitees for the dinner, with the aide replying to say that “Brian is happy with the proposed list below” and “would reach out to some people”.
Mr McAllister added: “I will leave it to you guys to judge who that might be but we would be very grateful if he could nudge people as he feels appropriate.”
Mr Yousaf, Neil Gray, the secretary for wellbeing economy, former chief executive of the media group DC Thomson Ellis Watson, and Sir Brian himself were shown to have attended, with nine other names redacted.
Scottish government minutes show that Mr Yousaf told those present “engagement with business has already highlighted the need to involve business more effectively in policy”.
A Scottish government spokesman said: “Ministers routinely engage with a wide range of business leaders as a normal part of government.
“Calling upon their expertise is vital to the development of policy, understanding business needs and how to effectively grow our economy.”
Express.co.uk has approached the SNP for comment.
