Exclusive: Meet the New Face of Scotland
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00:00 [Music]
00:06 Being the first ever Muslim head of a government in a Western nation means a lot to me and
00:12 my family. It's something I am proud of, it's not something I dwell on too too often,
00:17 because it's an important job to just get on with, but if I can just inspire one person
00:21 who never thought politics was for them to go, "You know what, yeah it is for me,"
00:25 then that's a pretty good feeling.
00:28 [Music]
00:32 [Applause]
00:36 [Music]
00:46 Growing up in Glasgow, growing up in Scotland, my experiences were quite similar to everybody
00:52 else. I was a boy who loved his football, followed his football team, and for a lot
00:58 of my life I wasn't overtly conscious of being different despite my race and despite my religion.
01:04 "Hi, Hamza Haroon Yusuf."
01:06 People ask me often, "Did you want to become a politician? Did you know that when you were
01:12 younger?" and absolutely not, but to me there was probably a couple of seminal moments that
01:17 shaped the future direction of my life and there's no doubt that 9/11 was one of those moments.
01:23 "New York City is in shock. One of its most famous landmarks destroyed. Thousands dead
01:30 and America is under siege."
01:33 My Muslim identity came to the fore, partly because people were questioning it, were asking
01:39 about what it meant in terms of my loyalty to this country, and you had two choices.
01:44 You either just try to put your head in a bunker and hope that it all passed by or actually
01:48 you stopped and you said, "You know what? These people don't act in our name and you
01:52 know what? I don't have to feel guilty for the actions of an extreme fringe and I stand
01:59 in absolute solidarity with those who value and treasure freedom and democracy and the
02:04 rule of law."
02:05 "That was a nice surprise."
02:06 I remember my dad saying to me, "We need more people like us in politics, so you go for
02:14 it. We've got your back."
02:16 The way we shift the dial on independence is give people a little bit of hope and I
02:37 believe that the SNP can absolutely do that. Our challenge over the last few months, to
02:41 be frank and to be blunt, has been that we've not been able to get cut through because of
02:45 other events that have dominated the party space. We have too many people in Scotland,
02:51 in fact, right across the UK, living in poverty because we have had 13 years of austerity.
02:58 And my belief, unsurprisingly, is that we need the powers of independence to truly unleash
03:02 the potential of this country for every single Scot that lives here.
03:06 "With an abundance of so much human talent, with so much wealth, with so much resource,
03:13 don't dare tell me that we are too we or too poor to be an independent nation."
03:21 We don't believe in Scotland as isolating ourselves from the rest of the world, quite
03:26 the opposite. We believe in Scotland as being an outward looking nation and being able to
03:30 show global leadership. We may well be a small to medium-sized country, but actually we think
03:36 we can really punch above our weight on issues that matter to the world and the climate emergency
03:41 is top of that list.
03:43 "Let's do our bit in tackling the climate crisis here in Scotland and across the world."
03:49 We are bursting with potential when it comes to renewables. So for me, the future of this
03:55 country can be like many other European nations of our size, who are wealthier, more productive,
04:02 have fewer people in poverty than the UK. The big question is, well, why not Scotland?
04:05 I remember my father saying to me that if you're passionate about something, if you
04:14 really believe it in your heart, then doors will open for you. But always keep your intention
04:18 clear. That was the best bit of advice that I ever received and I keep it to this day.
04:25 [Music]
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