SNP lost thousands of members during first year of Humza Yousaf leadership

Humza Yousaf became SNP leader in March 2023

Humza Yousaf has suffered a fresh blow after it was revealed SNP membership numbers continued to plummet during his first year in leader.

The Nationalists remain by far the largest party in Scotland with 69,235 registered supporters as of December 31 last year.

But this represents a drop of 4,701 from August. The party had 103,884 members at the end of 2021.

It comes as the First Minister last night confirmed a reshuffle of his Cabinet team following the dramatic resignation of Michael Matheson as Health Secretary.

Yousaf has endured a gruelling first year in the top job since he narrowly defeated Kate Forbes to become SNP leader in March.

The party is still awaiting the outcome of Operation Branchform, a long-running police investigation into its finances, while it prepares for what could be a tough general election campaign later this year.

The issue of membership numbers remains a thorny one for the party after it caused the resignation of Peter Murrell as chief executive.

He stood down a year ago this month after accepting responsibility for misleading the media over how many members the SNP had lost.

The drop in membership has also cost the party financially.

Figures published by the Electoral Commission yesterday show the Nationalists recorded their largest ever deficit in 2022 despite not having a Holyrood or Westminster campaign to pay for.

The party spent just over £5.05 million during the last year but earned just £4.25m in income – resulting in a deficit of £803,659.

The deficit stood at £732,072 in 2021.

Yousaf will now hope a refreshed Cabinet team will help him take the fight to Scottish Labour ahead of a UK election expected by the autumn.

Two polls out this week have put the Nationalists on course to win the most MPs in Scotland – but both also showed Keir Starmer’s party continuing to narrow their lead.

Speaking about the Cabinet reshuffle last night, the First Minister said: “These new appointments reflect this government’s priorities and the missions that drive them – equality, opportunity and community – and I look forward to working with them as we continue to deliver for the people of Scotland.”

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