Politics

John Swinney: Who is the frontrunner to replace SNP leader and First Minister Humza Yousaf?

Published

2 weeks ago

May 2, 2024

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The race is on to find a new SNP leader and first minister of Scotland.

Humza Yousaf announced he was stepping down on Monday after little more than a year in the hot seat.

He intends to remain in the two posts until a successor is found.

Former deputy first minister John Swinney is the first to announce he intends to enter the race.

Ex-finance secretary Kate Forbes had been tipped to join him, but has since announced she does not intend to stand and will throw her support behind Mr Swinney.

Who is John Swinney?

Edinburgh-born Mr Swinney has spent a year on the backbenches after he stepped down as deputy first minister when Nicola Sturgeon resigned in 2023.

The 60-year-old first joined the SNP in 1979 at the age of 15. He became a prominent figure in the party’s youth wing before climbing the ranks to become the SNP’s national secretary at the age of 22.

Mr Swinney has been an MSP since the Scottish parliament’s inception in 1999, serving North Tayside, and previously representing the same constituency at Westminster in 1997.

The Perthshire North MSP, who was also finance secretary under Alex Salmond’s government, is said by his supporters to have the experience needed to lead the country following Mr Yousaf’s departure.

He took over from Mr Salmond as SNP leader in 2000, but resigned in 2004 following poor European parliament election results.

Under Ms Sturgeon, he occupied several ministerial offices, including education secretary, COVID-19 recovery secretary and again in finance – taking over from Kate Forbes during her maternity leave.

During his time as Ms Sturgeon’s deputy, he cemented his reputation as a dogged defender of his boss, as well as an SNP stalwart.

However, he faced two close no-confidence votes in Holyrood, first over the handling of school exams during the pandemic, and then his initial refusal to publish legal advice during the inquiry into the botched handling of harassment complaints against Mr Salmond.

He ruled himself out of the 2023 leadership race to replace Ms Sturgeon, citing that he had to put his young family first.

Within hours of Mr Yousaf’s resignation, several senior figures within the SNP voiced their support for Mr Swinney, including the party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, education secretary Jenny Gilruth, and MPs Pete Wishart, Ian Blackford and Alyn Smith.

Announcing his intention to enter the SNP leadership race, Mr Swinney admitted that his party is “not as cohesive as it needs to be” to achieve its goal of Scottish independence.

He added: “I believe I have the experience, the skills, and I command the trust and the confidence of people across this country to bring the SNP back together again and get us focused on what we do best – uniting Scotland, delivering for the people and working to create the best future for our country.”

If elected, Mr Swinney said he wants Ms Forbes to “play a significant part” in his government.

He said: “She is an intelligent, creative, thoughtful person who has much to contribute to our national life. And if elected, I will make sure that Kate is able to make that contribution.”

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Nominations for SNP leader close at noon on Monday.

Prospective candidates will have to gain the support of 100 members from 20 different SNP branches to qualify for the contest.

Any potential ballot will then open at 12pm on Monday 13 May and will close at noon on Monday 27 May.

Politics

Bybit’s Notcoin listing debacle, China firm’s profits up 1100% after crypto buy: Asia Express

Published

12 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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Bybit’s Notcoin listing debacle, China firm’s profits up 1100% after crypto buy: Asia Express

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‘Crypto King’ Aiden Pleterski faces fraud, money laundering charges

Published

13 hours ago

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Politics

Jeremy Hunt to promise further tax cuts as pre-general election battle hots up

Published

14 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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Jeremy Hunt to promise further tax cuts as pre-general election battle hots up

Jeremy Hunt will promise further tax cuts if the Tories win the next general election and will accuse the Labour Party of not being honest about how it will fund its spending pledges.

The chancellor will give a speech in London on Friday in which he will accuse his shadow, Rachel Reeves, of resorting to “playground politics” with her criticism of the high levels of taxation on UK households.

Mr Hunt will also reiterate his ambition to eradicate the national insurance tax – which the Tories have already slashed twice in a bid to move the polls – where they currently lag 20 points behind Labour.

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Labour has attacked the policy as an unfunded £46bn pledge and likened it to the policies that saw Liz Truss resign from office after just 44 days as prime minister.

The chancellor was previously forced to make clear that his desire to abolish the “unfair” national insurance tax would not happen “any time soon”.

The chancellor described national insurance as a “tax on work” and said he believed it was “unfair that we tax work twice” when other forms of income are only taxed once.

The overall tax burden is expected to increase over the next five years to around 37% of gross domestic product – close to a post-Second World War high – but Mr Hunt will argue the furlough scheme brought in during the pandemic and the help the government gave households for heating both needed to be paid for.

“Labour like to criticise tax rises this parliament thinking people don’t know why they have gone up – the furlough scheme, the energy price guarantee and billions of pounds of cost-of-living support, policies Labour themselves supported,” he will say.

“Which is why it is playground politics to use those tax rises to distract debate from the biggest divide in British politics – which is what happens next.

“Conservatives recognise that whilst those tax rises may have been necessary, they should not be permanent. Labour do not.”

James Murray, Labour’s shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “There is nothing Jeremy Hunt can say or do to hide that fact that working people are worse off after 14 years of economic failure under the Conservatives.”