HUMZA Yousaf held back tears as he gave his final speech as first minister and spoke of the “daily” racism he has had to endure his whole life.

In a speech to the chamber, Yousaf said it had been the “greatest privilege” of his life to serve his country in government and as first minister – and became emotional when he looked back on being handed the opportunity after being told to “go home” by racists since he was just six-years-old.

He said it was the racial slur that hurt him the most as Scotland has been his only home.

He added: "My heart will forever belong to Scotland."

Yousaf added being first minister was a “tremendous honour” that he didn’t think was reserved for people “who looked like him”.  

Yousaf said: “I’ve had the greatest privilege of my life serving my country in government for almost 12 years, as minister for external affairs and international development, minister for transport, cabinet secretary for justice, cabinet secretary for health and social care and of course most recently as first minister.

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“So my thanks must go to the people who gave me that opportunity by electing me to this place, the good people of Glasgow in 2011 and the fine people of Glasgow Pollok since 2016 who have continued to put their trust in me to stand up for them and to serve them.

“And also to my predecessors as first minister for giving this boy opportunities he could only have imagined in his wildest dreams.

“I’m grateful for the trust that you put in me over the years, because you see presiding officer a young Humza Yousaf could never have imagined that he would be able to lead this country.

The National:

“I was six-years-old when I was first told to go home, and I’m afraid since then it has been a regular occurrence, in fact almost daily if you look at my social media feeds and I won’t lie presiding officer, it is that racial slur that probably hurts me the most, very simply because I have no other home than this one.

“My heart will forever belong to Scotland.”

Yousaf also used his speech to make another plea for a ceasefire in Gaza after Israeli forces established “operational control” over the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing.

It comes after “targeted strikes” were carried out on eastern Rafah with an Israeli army official saying the vast majority of people located in the evacuation zone have left.

Yousaf said: “I cannot let today’s remarks go by without pleading one last time from the frontbenches for the international community to stop any further massacre of the innocent people of Gaza.

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“A full-scale invasion of Rafah, home to 1.4 million people, 600,000 children, will only result in the slaughter of more innocent civilians in what is likely to be one of the clearest violations of international law to date.

“A clear signal must be sent to the Israeli Government that to defy the international community in this way will come with significant consequence and sanction.

“Everything possible must be done to demand an immediate ceasefire, a release of all the hostages and an end to arms sales to Israel. We must be on the right side of history and that must mean standing with innocent men, women and children. To do otherwise would be unforgivable.”