“INDEPENDENCE feels frustratingly close,” said Humza Yousaf, the outgoing leader of the Scottish National Party (snp) and first minister of Scotland, as he announced his resignation on April 29th. The comment captured Mr Yousaf’s personal limitations: secession is, in fact, as distant a prospect now as it has been at any time since Scots voted against it in a referendum in 2014. As such, it is a reminder of the SNP’s need to find fresh purpose.

Mr Yousaf’s departure had been precipitated, days earlier, by his ditching of the Bute House Agreement, a power-sharing deal signed by the snp and the Scottish Greens in 2021. That deal gave the snp a slim pro-independence majority in Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament. But it also tied the party to a progressive agenda, covering matters from climate change to gender identity, that had begun to fray. By dumping the Greens, Mr Yousaf hoped to shore up his authority. Instead he revealed he didn’t have any. When it became clear he was not wanted to lead any government, minority or otherwise, he resigned.