Meeting of the Parliament 02 September 2025
I welcome all members back to the chamber for the new session. It may be a new session, but, for this knackered SNP Government, it is the same old script and the same old tired voices. No matter how much John Swinney shouts about hope and delivery, the truth is that he is hopeless at delivery—and Scotland can see it.
As much as he tries to reheat and rehash the same old playbook, the difference now is that Scots can see right through him. John Swinney talks of his priorities for Scotland, but, in his own motion, he claims that the only way that he can deliver on those priorities is—surprise, surprise—through independence.
I want to give John Swinney credit, however. He is a politician of rare consistency. The guy has been in the Government for almost 20 years and, over all that time, throughout his entire career, he has pleaded powerlessness over his inability to improve Scotland. His answer to every hard question remains the same: he blames somebody else or talks about independence. But while he continues to beat that drum, the people of Scotland are paying the price of his and his Government’s inaction.
This Government’s inaction is clear for all to see, across all of John Swinney’s stated, claimed priorities.