Humza Yousaf’s resignation is another sign Holyrood’s politicians are out of touch with the people they represent.

With hospitals in crisis and patients struggling to get GP appointments, the NHS is on its knees. Education has never recovered from the pandemic and the attainment gap is stubbornly high. Homelessness levels are a national scandal and young people cannot get a foot on the housing ladder.

Local authorities, whose funding has been cut to the bone by a council tax freeze, are teetering on the brink. We can see the evidence in the state of our roads and streets – and are facing a summer of discontent after a miserly two per cent pay rise offered to council staff.

Sorting out these thorny issues should be the priority of MSPs. Instead they are engaged in a major bout of infighting, self-promotion and Holyrood intrigue in the hunt for a new first minister.

Yousaf was a disappointing leader and it had become clear he could no longer command a consensus in the Scottish Parliament for any important new ­legislation, effectively paralysing the normal function of government. But the last week has not shown any party in a particularly flattering light.

Opposition MSPs were more focused on trying to bring down the government than improving the lives of Scots. Meanwhile, the SNP and the Greens were engaged in a war of mutually assured destruction that was miles away from the priorities of most voters.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters