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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Chris McCall

Humza Yousaf spin doctor backed 'super majority' of SNP and Labour MSPs at Holyrood

Humza Yousaf's new spin doctor previously called for the SNP and Labour to form a "supermajority" of MSPs at Holyrood.

Kevin Pringle was today named as the First Minister's official spokesman and will also serve as his "strategic political advisor".

In a recent newspaper column, he argued that if the 2026 Holyrood election result did not return a pro-independence majority then the SNP should consider working with Labour.

The Nationalists signed a powersharing deal with the Scottish Greens in 2021 but polling suggests the two parties could lack enough MSPs to renew the agreement after the next election.

Pringle, a former head of communications for Alex Salmond, claimed it was "unhealthy" for the Scottish Parliament to have so many elected opposition members who had never served in government.

And he claimed the deal between the SNP and Greens "wasn’t carved on tablets of stone".

In a column for The Courier, the communications chief said bringing the Greens into power had helped "the long-term improvement of the Scottish Parliament".

"A broader range of MSPs having experience of government can only be a good thing for Holyrood as an institution. Green ministers will influence but shouldn’t dictate policy," he said.

"It follows that being in government will change the Greens, I believe for the better.

"At present, among all opposition MSPs, only two Labour members have ever been ministers in Scotland’s devolved system of government. That imbalance is unhealthy.

"The SNP has been in government at Holyrood since 2007. Politicians who have served in government will form a better opposition, which in turn should make for a better government.

"Today it’s the SNP and Greens in power. It will change again in future."

Pringle added: "Recent polls suggest that while the SNP will still be the biggest party at the next Holyrood election in 2026, there might not be a pro-independence majority.

"A deal with the Greens would be null and void. In these circumstances, my preference would for a supermajority of SNP and Labour MSPs.

"Such an agreement may seem unlikely at present, but stranger things have happened."

Yousaf had been searching for an official spokesperson after he succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister in March.

Stuart Nicolson, who previously held the role for a decade, stepped down that same month.

Pringle first worked for the SNP in 1989 and was most recently the party's head of media until 2015.

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