Humza Yousaf said he will not resign as First Minister of Scotland and intends to continue in his position.
Youssef is fighting for his political future ahead of the no-confidence vote next week.
He said he was confident he would win the vote, and that he hoped the Scottish Greens would change their mind about voting to sack him.
He also said he would “absolutely” lead the SNP in the general election and the 2026 Holyrood elections.
Youssef denied claims by his opponents that he was now a “lame duck” First Minister after the collapse of the power-sharing deal between the Scottish National Party and the Green Party on Thursday.
The two pro-independence parties have formed the Scottish government since 2021, and Youssef now plans to run a minority government in the Scottish Parliament.
This means that the government will not have enough seats in Parliament to pass laws without the support of some opposition MSP members.
Youssef will write to opposition party leaders – including the Green Party – asking them to meet him in a bid to “make the minority government a success”.
He said of the Greens: “I hope they will reconsider their position because there are a lot of issues, a lot of priorities, that both the SNP and the Green Party share.”
Youssef said ending the power-sharing agreement was the right thing to do, but he did not mean to upset or anger the Green Party.
He said he hoped to work with the opposition parties “issue by issue” to “deliver for the people of Scotland”, but acknowledged that minority government had been “difficult”.
The First Minister was speaking during a visit to Dundee arranged shortly after he pulled out of a speech on independence in Glasgow.
He used the visit to announce £80 million in funding for affordable housing projects in Scotland.
Youssef is struggling to save his position after his former allies from the Green Party pledged to oppose him in a no-confidence motion put forward by the Scottish Conservatives.
The Conservatives said Mr Yousaf “needs to go”, and its leader Douglas Ross said: “Humza Yousaf has let Scotland down, his government is collapsing and despite his threat, he knows it is over.”
“He has the cheek to claim that he is now seeking a compromise with the opposition parties when he and the SNP have divided Scotland at every turn. The only message I want to see from Humza Yousaf is one announcing his resignation.”
The vote is expected to take place next week. Mr. Youssef will not have to step down if he loses, but is expected to do so.
With Labor and the Lib Dems announcing they will join the Conservatives and Greens in voting against him, Youssef stands to lose a vote of confidence unless he gets the support of Alba MSP Ash Regan.
Ms Regan is a former member of the Scottish National Party, who was defeated by Youssef in the party leadership contest last year before later defecting to Alba, which is led by Alex Salmond.
Youssef said at the time that it was “not a big loss” and the BBC knew that he would find it difficult to reach an arrangement with her.
Mrs Reagan – an outspoken critic of the Scottish Government's policies on transgender rights and its partnership with the Green Party – said she wanted to see progress on Scottish independence, competent government and championing “the rights of women and children” in return for her support.
“I would enjoy the opportunity to sit down and talk about these areas and see if there are areas where we can agree and work together,” she said.
Labor also announced that it intends to hold a vote of no confidence in the Scottish government as a whole, which could lead to an election if successful. The Scottish Liberal Democrats said they would support the motion, meaning it would pass the 25-member threshold needed to secure debate.
Hamza Yousuf puts on a brave face in sunny Dundee.
For 30 minutes or so, he toured a housing project in an attempt to demonstrate that he was continuing his governance work.
He walked in and out of a mobile building, put on a high-quality jacket, and made small talk with the workers.
This was the easy part. He then made his way towards a bank of cameras to face dozens of difficult questions, or more accurately dozens of very similar questions.
We learned that he continues to fight and that he does not seem to have given up on regaining the support of the Greens, despite their insistence that their position will not change.
Asked whether he would accept ALBA President Ash Reagan's demands for independence, competent government and “protection of the dignity, safety and rights of women and children”, he said he would outline his position by writing to all opposition parties including ALBA.
Most interestingly, there was a hint of something close to contrition when he told me that he sympathized with the Green Party co-leaders, Patrick Harvey and Lorna Slater, and that he would be writing to them.
Will that letter contain an apology for the way they left the government?
The Scottish National Party leader did not say.
There has been widespread discontent within the Green Party after the government dropped its 2030 climate target, and over the decision by the Scottish NHS to stop prescribing new puberty-blocking drugs for transgender young people.
The party was planning to ask its members whether it should continue its partnership with the SNP before Youssef made the decision to end it himself.
Patrick Harvey, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, told the PA news agency on Friday that it was “pretty clear” Youssef had been unable to unite the Scottish Parliament.
Harvey said it was now up to the SNP to find a suitable leader, and Mr Youssef “needs to live with the consequences of this reckless and damaging decision” to scrap the deal with the Green Party just 48 hours after he said he had no intention of doing so. Finish it.
He added: “He still has not provided any clarity on why he made such a dramatic shift and broke the promise on which he was elected as First Minister.
“So it's very difficult to see how you can have a conversation that leads to a constructive outcome based on a lack of trust.”
Scottish Labor deputy leader Jackie Baillie said she believed Youssef was “done” regardless of the outcome of the confidence vote and said Scotland needed an election and not just a change of SNP leader.
“We are fed up,” she said. “It is not just Hamza Yousuf, but his entire government that has failed.”
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