When Humza Yousaf entered office as the new First Minister, we all waited in anticipation to see what priorities he would focus on.

Yet, instead of putting all his energy into tackling the big challenges facing the country, he immediately concentrated on independence.

Straight away, Mr Yousaf created a new post of Minister for Independence.

So now, in the heart of the Scottish Government, there is a minister who is only focused on dividing the country.

That minister will take home a salary of £98,000 of taxpayers' money. The new SNP leader has somehow decided it's a good idea to waste your money on allowing someone to spend all their time trying to split up the country.

That minister could have been spending every minute fixated on how we could improve schools, create jobs or cut down on NHS waiting times.

Instead, they will have only one key mission - pushing for another referendum that Scotland doesn't want or need.

The money for this minister's salary, and all the other resources they will use, could have been spent on tackling the cost of living crisis or improving key public services. Instead, it will all go to waste.

Already, it has become clear that Mr Yousaf will lead a government even more divisive and distracted than Nicola Sturgeon did.

Mr Yousaf has his priorities all wrong. He is obsessed with dividing people all over again just when we need to unite as a country to tackle the huge challenges facing us.

His flawed priorities don't end with independence, though. At the moment, he is claiming he will force the UK Government to court over the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill.

Instead of realising that the GRR Bill was a huge mistake by Nicola Sturgeon, he is using it purely to pick a fight with the UK Government and distract from the chaos engulfing his party.

If he does indeed follow through and drag the UK Government into a legal battle, he will be wasting even more taxpayers' money pursuing policies that the Scottish public are firmly against.

People across Cumnock, Ayrshire and the whole country want to see the Scottish Government focus on the issues that really matter, such as supporting our NHS, building up our economy and providing better opportunities to young people.

They don't want to see the SNP provoke grievance after grievance with the UK Government.

The public are fed up with the SNP's divisive agenda. It's time for Mr Yousaf to accept that.