Humza Yousaf says far-Right riots could force him and his family to leave UK
Former Scottish First Minister says he is questioning his family's future in the UK after far-right riots.
Humza Yousaf has said he may be forced to leave the UK because of far-Right riots.
The former Scottish first minister said the last week has been "utterly horrendous" as violent disorder has erupted in British towns and cities.
Mr Yousaf, who was the first Muslim leader of a Western democracy, told The News Agents podcast: "It is a strange feeling when your very sense of belonging is questioned.
"Look, I'm about as Scottish as they come. Born in Scotland, raised in Scotland, educated in Scotland, just welcomed my third child here in Scotland, was the leader of the Scottish Government for just over a year, leader of the Scottish National Party. You cut me open, I'm as about as Scottish as you come.
"But the truth of the matter is, I don't know whether the future for me and my wife and my three children is going to be here in Scotland or the United Kingdom, or indeed in Europe and the West, because I have for some time really worried about the rise of Islamophobia.
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"I wrote a column about it actually just about a month ago, the rise of the far-right driven by Islamophobia in Europe, UK and the West.
"And by the way, I'm not the only one. I've had hundreds of messages, hundreds of messages from the Muslim community saying the exact same thing."
The MSP for Glasgow Pollok insisted he did not want to leave Scotland.
Asked where he would move, he said: "Exactly that point. You know, when I was younger, I used to laugh at my dad because he'd also created these Pakistani identity cards and Pakistani passports.
"And he said, ‘you just never know, son, one day we might need to leave this country’. We would laugh at him, we genuinely, and I feel bad now, but we would laugh at my dad and say, what a ridiculous suggestion.
"Now I'm thinking, well, actually, maybe it wasn't such a ridiculous suggestion.
"I have no idea where, by the way, I don't want to go, let me just make that abundantly clear. Scotland is the country I love, and the United Kingdom over the decades, of course complicated history around race, a lot of countries do, but actually, that's a pretty positive story to tell on multiculturalism.
"I don't know if there's any other country in Europe that could boast the fact that they had a British Hindu Prime Minister, a Muslim mayor of their capital city, of course, myself as Muslim First Minister of Scotland.
"So, we actually have a strong history and heritage of multiculturalism over the years, but that is quite literally, actually in some parts of the UK, going up in flames."
