The battle to lead the Scottish National party became bitter and personal after the two leading candidates attacked each other’s suitability to succeed Nicola Sturgeon in the first televised debate of the leadership campaign. Kate Forbes clashed with Humza Yousaf over his track record in government, claiming that trains were never on time when he was transport secretary; the police were at breaking point when he was justice secretary; and now, as health secretary, the NHS had the longest ever waiting lists. “What makes you think you can do a better job as first minister?” Forbes asked Yousaf, during a cross-examination section of the live STV debate. When he insisted he had ensured Scotland had the fastest Covid vaccine rollout in the UK, she said it was a “tired ambition” being slightly better than the rest of the UK. Forbes, who has been Sturgeon’s finance secretary since 2020, opened the STV debate by directly criticising Sturgeon’s legacy and by implication Yousaf’s positioning as Sturgeon’s favoured successor. “More of the same is not a manifesto, it is an acceptance of mediocrity,” she said. In a series of personal and blunt attacks unprecedented in the SNP’s recent history, Yousaf said neither Forbes nor Ash Regan, the third candidate and outsider in the contest, had the strength to fight for independence as neither would stand up to Westminster. They would not go to court to fight the UK government’s unprecedented decision to block Holyrood legislation greatly simplifying Scotland’s gender recognition rules, Yousaf said. “I’m the only candidate who will stand up to Westminster’s power grab.” Regan, who quit as community safety minister to campaign against the gender recognition bill, said it would be pointless if the supreme court rejected his challenge. “Losing that court case isn’t going to prove that point,” she retorted. In his cross-examination of Forbes, Yousaf said her decision not to oppose the UK government’s block meant that, if she won this election contest, her “very first act [would be] to cave in to the UK government. How can anybody trust you to stand up for the Scottish people?” Forbes insisted she would fight harder than anyone for Scotland, adding later that she was the only candidate who had directly negotiated with Rishi Sunak, during his time as chancellor, when she had won extra money for Scotland. Regan, who has sought to appeal to hardcore pro-independence activists, said the longer-term plans of both Yousaf and Forbes to build a substantial yes vote before securing a referendum were “wishy washy”. She insisted her widely disparaged plans to use election victories as the vehicle for securing independence – a strategy already rejected by UK party leaders – were the gold standard route. Yousaf accused her of fantasy thinking: “If there was a shortcut [to independence], we would not be having this debate tonight,” he said. “The most formidable politician on these islands, Nicola Sturgeon, would have found it.” Regan and Forbes were also accused by Yousaf of risking the unity of the independence movement by threatening to break up the SNP alliance with the Scottish Green party. The Greens have warned they will quit the government if the next first minister attacks gender reforms, the climate strategy and other social rights. Yousaf said Forbes had lost support from key MSPs and provoked threats from pro-independence LGBTQ+ activists to quit the yes movement if she was elected. “Forget persuading no voters, you can’t even keep yes voters onside,” he said. Yousaf added that the alliance at Holyrood was “absolutely vital” to the independence movement. “If we are going to unite the yes movement, [if] we are going to grow our support, the first thing you cannot do is simply reject the second largest pro-independence party.” Forbes was pressed several times by the debate host, Colin Mackay, on whether she would prioritise that coalition. “I would put economic prosperity front and centre and if they were willing to work with me, then I would happily work with them,” she said.