JOHN SWINNEY ACCEPTS 'FULL RESPONSIBILITY' FOR ELECTION RESULTS

• SNP leader admits the general election was 'incredibly tough' for his party after losing dozens of seats to Labour and Lib Dems
•  But Swinney says he will continue to campaign for independence despite  collapse of nationalist vote
• High profile MPs including Alyn Smith, Tommy Sheppard and Anum Qaisar lost their seats in cataclysmic night for SNP

John Swinney has admitted the election was ‘incredibly tough’ for the SNP as he promised to ‘reflect’ on what it meant for the independence campaign.

The First Minister said the slump from 48 MPs at the 2019 election to nine added to a ‘really difficult period’ for the SNP that included Humza Yousaf’s self-inflicted and chaotic resignation.

But he refused to consider his own position or take separation ‘off the table’.

He said: ‘The Scottish National Party needs to be healed and it needs to heal its relationship with the people of Scotland, and I am absolutely committed to doing that.’

The two-time SNP leader, who only replaced Mr Yousaf eight weeks ago, said he accepted ‘full responsibility’ for the party’s campaign and its worst Westminster election result since 2010.

Addressing the media at a press conference in Leith on Friday morning, he said: ‘I commit us to listen and to learn from the very obvious setback that we had last night.’

In an apparent nod to controversies over gender reform, he said the SNP must ‘build up trust’ by delivering policies that changed people’s lives ‘on the issues that matter’.

He also said the party must listen on independence.

However he made clear his plan was to recast the SNP’s pitch to voters in a bid to make it more appealing, rather than to press pause on separation.

‘I have to accept that we failed to convince people of the urgency of independence in this election campaign,’ he said.

‘And therefore we need to take the time to consider and to reflect on how we deliver our commitment to independence, which remains absolute.

‘We need to get that approach correct in the forthcoming period.’

After a breakdown in relations between Bute House and Number 10 in the last parliament amid personality clashes and rows over Brexit, the First Minister said he wanted a far more positive and productive relationship with Sir Keir Stamer and the new Labour government.

He said the Scottish Government would ‘unreservedly be willing to work collaboratively and cooperatively’ on issues such as child poverty, economic growth, and Net Zero.

Demanding more money for Holyrood, Mr Swinney said: ‘There has to be an injection of resources to strengthen the public finances or the recovery of public services will be incredibly difficult. It is an issue for all the component parts of the United Kingdom.’

Asked if he was putting independence ‘on the backburner’, Mr Swinney admitted his party had ‘failed to get across the urgency of independence at this particular moment’.

But he went on: ‘I want us to take the time to think carefully about how we advance the arguments for independence. My view about independence hasn’t changed this morning as a consequence of this election campaign.’

Pressed on whether the issue was ‘off the table’, he said: ‘No, it’s not.’

Asked if his plan was merely to ‘bang on about independence in a slightly different way’, Mr Swinney said: ‘We are committed to listening to and learning from the electorate to establish how we can strengthen the arguments and make them more compelling.’

He rejected the suggestion that the party’s focus on independence had put off voters, saying support for the cause remained around 50 per cent in opinion polls.

Mr Swinney also insisted he was an ‘electoral asset’ for the SNP, despite presiding over four electoral reversals as party leader, three 20 years ago as well as Thursday’s collapse.

He said: ‘I’ve got seven election victories under my belt as a parliamentary candidate, and I’ve been asked by my party to lead it in difficult circumstances and I intend to give it my all’.

Earlier, at his local election count in Perth, Mr Swinney said it had been ‘obvious’ to the public that the SNP had ‘been in a difficult place for some time’.

He said: ‘I think the SNP has been focusing internally and not looking externally.

‘And all my long time in politics tells you that when you focus internally and not externally, you pay a price, and we’ve just paid it.

‘So we’ve got to learn the lesson that we’ve got to face outwards, engage with the public, and learn the lessons.’

He refused to blame Nicola Sturgeon for the party’s woes, despite the ongoing police probe into SNP fundraising when she was leader, and a host of failed and undelivered policies.

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2024-07-05T15:45:57Z dg43tfdfdgfd