Humza Yousaf is facing a summer of discontent

You could almost hear the groans from Scots hard hit by the cost of living crisis when Humza Yousaf this week announced another ‘summer of independence’. The FM is promising to bring the campaign ‘to every corner of the country’, setting up ‘regional assemblies across Scotland to bring together and harness the energy of our members’. The intention is of course to do precisely the reverse and revive the divisions over the constitution.

We’ve had these summer offensives every couple of years since the 2014 referendum whenever Nicola Sturgeon tried to reboot her campaign for Indyref2. They invariably achieved little except stirring up apathy, as the late Willie Whitelaw might have put it. However, this campaign season might be rather different – and not in a good way – for the FM.

It promises to be a summer of discontent as the wider independence movement turns on the SNP leadership for the appalling state of the party after Sturgeon’s shock resignation in February.