Humza Yousaf to pledge £300m to cut NHS wait times at SNP conference

Humza Yousaf is to pledge an extra £300m to help cut NHS waiting lists by 100,000 patients by 2026.

The first minister will make the announcement during his keynote speech to the SNP conference in Aberdeen.

It comes after delegates agreed a new independence strategy based on winning the majority of Scotland's 57 seats at the next general election.

Mr Yousaf will vow to put the economy at the centre of the party's constitutional campaign.

Mr Yousaf will tell the conference that the Scottish government will invest an extra £100m in each of the next three years to cut waiting lists by an estimated 100,000 patients by 2026, when the next Holyrood election is scheduled to take place.

"This additional funding will enable us to maximise capacity, build greater resilience in the system and deliver year-on-year reductions in the number of patients who have waited too long for treatment," he is expected to say.

The number of patients on hospital waiting lists in Scotland has increased to 667,746, quarterly figures to June showed. That was up from almost 625,000 in February.

Speaking on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray said it was yet to be confirmed how the policy would be paid for.

"Obviously, we have to find it within a fixed budget," he said. "And there will be discussions across government as to where that comes from.

"We don't have the same luxury of an ordinary government to be able to borrow to invest in public services to the detriment of another budget."

Mr Yousaf will also outline plans to build a "sustained majority" for independence.

The SNP lost heavily to Labour in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election and have seen an MP defect to the Tories in recent weeks.

However, support for Yes has remained largely unchanged at about 49% in recent polls, when undecided voters are excluded.

Mr Yousaf is expected to urge the party to move on from talking about the mechanics of independence to discussing the motivations for it, to help build a "sustained majority" for Yes.

The top line of the party's manifesto will be "vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country", conference has been told.

The first minister is expected to say: "And that's because independence is about building a better Scotland.

"It's about raising living standards. It's about protecting our NHS. Above all, it's about a stronger economy. An economy that works for everyone who lives here."

Mr Yousaf will also announce a pilot for £1,000 to be given to domestic abuse survivors fleeing their partners. A £500,000 "fund to leave" is to be distributed to Women's Aid groups for pilot schemes in Glasgow, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Fife.

The Scottish government has said that nearly a quarter of homelessness presentations among women in Scotland were due to abuse.

The first minister is expected to say: "Women feel they cannot leave their abusive partner because they do not know how they will feed themselves or their children, or how they'll put a roof over their heads."

He will add: "Women will receive up to £1,000 to help them pay for the essentials that they and their children need."

The SNP's new independence strategy, agreed by delegates on Sunday, has ditched Nicola Sturgeon's plan for a de facto referendum.

However, arriving at the conference on Monday, she gave her "full unequivocal support" to the new plan.

The former first minister said she had been watching the conference "from afar" and denied taking attention away from her successor.

"I don't think there is any doubt from what I've seen about who is in charge of this conference and it's Humza Yousaf," she said.

Mr Yousaf gave an emotional speech to the conference on Sunday amid concerns for family members trapped in Gaza.

And on Monday the first minister cut short a walkabout of conference stands to take a call from his mother-in-law.

He has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the region.

Mr Yousaf's wife, Nadia El-Nakla urged world leaders to "give the children of Gaza a chance of life" as she spoke of her "complete despair" in a speech to party delegates.

She expressed fears the city where her family has a home was being "obliterated" by the Israeli military.

Humza Yousaf's big moment to address his party's annual gathering for the first time as leader comes at a time of great personal and political stress.

There have been reminders of both throughout the SNP's conference.

First, the personal. Mr Yousaf broke away from a tour of the exhibition hall to take a call about his in-laws who remain stuck in Gaza. Their fate is a constant concern.

Under this strain he has shown resilience and leadership, not least through the compassion he has offered both Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering.

Then there's the political. The new Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Michael Shanks, took his seat at Westminster on Monday, underlining the electoral threat to the SNP.

It is possible the SNP defector Lisa Cameron could take her seat on the Conservative benches as early as today - a reminder of the SNP's internal divisions.

The appearance of Nicola Sturgeon at conference recalls the party's past glories, which opinion polls suggest could be difficult for Humza Yousaf to replicate.

It was also a reminder that the SNP's finances remain under police investigation.

Mr Yousaf's expected announcement on extra cash to tackle NHS waiting lists will be widely welcomed but it also highlights the public service delivery challenges the SNP face in government.