Why John Swinney can't dismiss Nicola Sturgeon's attack with claim he secured a 'big win' for SNP

Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney worked together at the heart of the SNP government for years (Picture: Peter Summers) | Getty Images

It’s not often that we agree with Nicola Sturgeon, but her criticism of the SNP for its lack of “vision” and “big picture thinking” is hard to dispute. Writing in a new foreword to her memoir Frankly, the former First Minister said her party’s election campaign had been “detached from the big issues bearing down on people’s lives”.

Asked about the attack, John Swinney sought to diplomatically stress the positives, saying “we got a big win from the people of Scotland”, the party “commanded the confidence of the people of Scotland” and he was “absolutely over the moon to have my own mandate” to govern – claims worthy of closer examination.

The SNP received just over 877,000 votes in the constituency contests, out of an electorate of about 4,321,000. This means that Swinney’s mandate is based on about one in five of all those eligible to vote. This can in no way be described as a “big win” and it does not form a basis for his assertion that the SNP have the confidence of the nation.

READ MORE: SNP urged to follow Burnham and exempt rapists from early release amid fears 'public safety at risk'

Not a popular government

The reason they have so many seats, relative to the other parties, is two-fold: the further splintering of the opposition with the rise of Reform UK, and apathy that saw just 53 per cent of the electorate bother to vote.

This may seem like nit-picking, but it is fundamental. Swinney needs to realise he is not leading a popular government. If he governs like he is, it will be bad for the SNP but also, more importantly, for the country as public disillusionment with democracy will only grow.

Swinney is a managerial politician in the style of Keir Starmer, although his blunders have perhaps been less obvious, and he has only one ‘big vision’: independence. He needs to recognise his weaknesses, and play to his organisational strengths.

If he can find ways to collaborate with other parties on sensible policies that most people in Scotland support, he could end up doing considerably more good than Sturgeon managed in her nine years in office. But that process starts with recognising that his win was small and his mandate is thin.