Humza Yousaf, the leader of the Scottish National Party, reacts after becoming the first Muslim leader of a significant UK political party in Edinburgh.

 Humza Yousaf faces ‘full in-tray’ as half of Scots think the country is on the wrong path.  He moved from Punjab to Parliament.

Humza Yousaf made history on Monday by becoming the first member of a minority group and a Muslim to win the hotly contested Scottish National Party leadership election. In an emotional acceptance speech, he paid tribute to his Pakistani grandparents who immigrated to Scotland from Mian Channu more than 60 years ago.

He will soon take the oath of office as Scotland's First Minister, becoming the nation's first Muslim or Asian head of state. He described this milestone as sending "a clear message, that your colour of skin, your faith, is not a barrier to leading the country we all call home."

Yousaf, 37, said shortly after it was revealed he had defeated his party colleagues Ash Regan and Kate Forbes. "As immigrants to this country, who knew barely a word of English, they could not have imagined their grandson would one day be on the cusp of being the next First Minister of Scotland," he said.

He painted a vivid picture of the lives of his late grandparents, when they first arrived in the United Kingdom. "They couldn't have imagined, in their wildest dreams, that two generations later, their grandson would one day be Scotland's First Minister," says Rehmat Ali Bhutta. "Muhammad Yousaf worked in the Singer Sewing Machine Factory in Clydebank, and Rehmat Ali Bhutta stamped tickets on the Glasgow Corporation Buses."

As Nicola Sturgeon's more than eight-year tenure as First Minister comes to an end, a poll has revealed that 50% of Scots believe their nation is moving in the wrong direction. MSPs are expected to back Humza Yousaf to be Scotland’s sixth first minister after he was named the new leader of the SNP at the end of an almost six-week campaign to succeed Ms Sturgeon. In contrast, a survey by Ipsos conducted before the Holyrood vote on Tuesday found that only 25% of adults living north of the border believed Scotland was headed in the right direction.

Individuals from ethnic minorities hailed Mr. Yousaf's triumph as a momentous and historic achievement.

According to an opinion piece by Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future, "King Charles III will now be inviting a Hindu prime minister of the United Kingdom and a Muslim first minister of Scotland to his Coronation this spring, sending a powerful message to the world about how much public life in Britain has changed, to an extent unparalleled in comparable democracies."

Sangita Myska, another user of Twitter, made light of the fact that her generation of South Asian children had been told by their immigrant parents that they would fail at life if they didn't become doctors, lawyers, or pharmacists. Things just got a lot harder, kids!”

Yet, several people emphasised the victory's more tangible implications. "It would be a Scottish first, but the same criticism as with PM Sunak would be leveled. The true seismic moment is when like Sadiq Khan they get elected by people,” tweeted Kevin Diamond.

Humza Yousaf now faces a fractured and bruised party, which was further devastated by the leadership election.

When he said: "Where there are divisions to heal we must do so and do so quickly because we have a job to do and as a Party we are at our strongest when we are united, and what unites is our shared goal of delivering independence for our nation," he subtly acknowledged these divisions and vowed to do better.

Mr Yousaf emerged victorious by appealing to 70,000 voting SNP members, but he now has to appeal to the wider public to ensure he can remain in Scotland’s highest office. Despite Mr. Yousaf's popularity among nationalists, polls indicate that it is still low among the general public.

The path forward will be difficult for Mr. Yousaf because he served as health minister during the pandemic, and the National Health Services are currently experiencing a crisis.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar hailed Mr Yousaf for the symbolic triumph, but said the SNP was out of ideas.

"Although I dispute the SNP's track record and his mandate, it's crucial to consider the election of the first First Minister from an ethnic minority. But he continued, "It is clear that the SNP does not have the answers that Scotland needs as Scotland faces the twin crises of the cost of living and the NHS emergency.

Rachel Ormston, research director at Ipsos in Scotland, said the findings underlined “Humza Yousaf’s very full in-tray”.

SNP leadership: Humza Yousaf inherits fractured party, but relief was enormous...

“He takes office at a period when the Scottish people is feeling quite dismal about the direction of their country, and negative about the Scottish Government performance across a lot of crucial areas,” she said.