This hasn’t been a vintage SNP conference. Ministerial speeches have been low on quality, and the sparkle and fizz that defined these events in recent years has been missing. It’s been hard to avoid the sense that this is a party that knows it is past its peak, however loudly it shouts from the stage.
This is one reason that Humza Yousaf’s speech needed to lift the mood. Another is that the First Minister, who took over in March, has so far failed to win over Scotland’s voters – polls show low approval ratings. There is little confidence that he is up to the job, particularly coming after Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, two giants of the independence movement. So this was a speech that had to show that Yousaf has grip, direction and ambition. To his credit, and in a number of ways, it did just that.
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