John Swinney: 'I’m loving every minute of being FM'

Kids break away from the scavenger hunt to get their picture taken with the new First Minister.

Their parents and grandparents, curious locals, and those here for the music and a sing, stop him to bend his ear. It takes almost an hour to get around the small garden and hall.

It's his third campaign stop of the day. He has already been out with his candidates in Livingston and Linlithgow.

He's spoken to a theatre group, a dance troupe, local SNP activists, and people out for a stroll in the park 

On his wrist, he's wearing a friendship bracelet gifted by a Swiftie he met at his last visit.

The First Minister is buzzing.

“I think it’d be fair to say that I’m loving every minute of it, all aspects of life just now, to say the least,” the SNP leader tells the Herald on Sunday as we sit down for an interview.

It has been just over six weeks since Humza Yousaf announced his intention to resign and little more than a month since Mr Swinney was elected First Minister.

There was no easing into the job. He’d only been in Bute House two weeks when Rishi Sunak called a general election.

“I've gone from my planning of gentle retirement to the full on intensity of being First Minister of Scotland and leading an election campaign,” he says.

“But as I think is obvious, it’s an enormous privilege and an enormous excitement, and I’m loving it.”

(Image: Scott Barron)

It is going to be a difficult election for the SNP. The polls have suggested they could take anywhere between seven and 35 MPs.

Analysis of the surveys by Glasgow University academic and Herald columnist Mark McGeoghegan suggests they could end up with somewhere closer to 16, down from the 48 they won in 2019.

And even if it’s a good night for them, and they hold on to most of their seats, they look almost certain to lose their place as the third biggest party in the Commons, with the Liberal Democrats likely to overtake.

In fact, the most recent YouGov poll puts Nigel Farage’s Reform within two points of the Tories. It is not now an entirely outlandish suggestion - and it’s made by some in the Tory party - that Rishi Sunak could be about to lead his party into third place.

Mr Swinney says he “cannot comprehend” how bad the Prime Minister’s campaign has been.

“It's like watching an unfolding catastrophe.

“One of the greatest strengths and one of the greatest powers of a prime minister is the ability to determine the timing of the election.

“So the Prime Minister used one of his strongest and greatest powers to create this situation.”

That, he adds, has been a “disastrous decision” for the Tory leader.

Mr Swinney, who was in Normandy for the D-Day commemoration earlier says the Prime Minister leaving early and missing the event with Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz is “literally beyond comprehension.”

“Because you cannot… I just…I literally cannot comprehend how you would think that the right thing to do was to leave the D-Day commemorations without being part of the international commemoration.

“I’m now seeing material which suggests that [the snub] was all carefully planned because it was an event that originated from France.

“If that is the case, then that makes it even worse because that's us back into the really stupid territory that Liz Truss was going into, where she was humming and hawing about whether President Macron was a friend or foe.

“For heaven's sake, you know, President Macron is a friend of the United Kingdom and a great ally internationally, “What was she thinking about, if Rishi Sunak is following in that groove then there's another example where he's unfit to be the prime minister.”

(Image: Scott Barron)

It is still to be seen if the Prime Minister’s early exit will have an impact on his vote north of the border where there are a number of tight races between the SNP and the Tories, But in most of the rest of the country, the fight will be with Labour.

Mr Swinney says he has been disappointed with Sir Keir Starmer.

“We've got a glaring set of crises facing the country. We've got the crisis of austerity and the impact on our public services, because our public services are under colossal pressure and I'm acutely aware of that as First Minister.

“The economy is being undermined everyday by Brexit, and opportunities are being lost and undermined and the public are facing a cost of living crisis.

“And what the Labour Party offers is a timidity of continuation of that approach.

“They are signed up to the same spending outlook as the Tories. They won't question Brexit. Brexit is a disaster for the UK.”

He points to analysis by the IFS warning that the refusal to hike taxes and the commitment to bring debt down implies “big spending cuts over the next five years.”

“They are essentially signing up to the same spending targets as the Tories, the same fiscal discipline, and as a consequence of that, the public will suffer,” he says.

Ealirer this week, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised that a Labour government in London would "want to work in partnership" with the SNP government in Edinburgh.

Asked if he would commit to work with Sir Keir and Ms Reeves, Mr Swinney said he would.

“I'm a seasoned government minister. I've seen [the relationship between the two governments] over a number of different administrations,” he said.

"There were always ups and downs on different issues, there always will be.

“Generally, we were able to work collaboratively with the Brown government, the Cameron coalition government, the Cameron stand alone government.

“And, ironically, on many practical issues with the Theresa May government, though it began to get increasingly difficult because of Brexit.

“After 2019 It has been disrespectful.”

Mr Swinney said he had “never felt as disrespected" as he was by Boris Johnson and his ministers.

“The Truss government was just an aberration. And the Sunak government has been no better," he added.

“Integral to that has been the disruptive, damaging contribution of the Scotland Office.

“The Scotland Office has frankly been working against Scotland. I've never seen anything like it.” “When I think back to people who were significant in my formative years… my goodness George Younger [Margaret Thacher’s Scottish Secretary between 1979 and 1986] fought Scotland’s corner.

“Alister Jack fights against Scotland on a constant basis, disrespects our parliament, presides over measures to undermine our parliament without asking the public in Scotland. “So the Scotland Office has had a dangerous and malign influence on intergovernmental relations.

“I would positively welcome a new government willing to work with us.

“I will pledge my government to work with the UK Government. There are shared priorities.

“My objective is to eradicate child poverty. And we're having to do that just now whilst swimming against the tide of a UK Government policy direction.

“If I had a UK Government direction that was sympathetic to that policy direction that would make my life an awful lot more straightforward. So I signal that willingness to do that.”