Missed Holyrood: Series Six? Here was a handy recap

If Holyrood were a television show (admittedly, not a great one), this was basically the series recap.

The last First Minister’s Questions before the Scottish election was a flurry of party attack lines we’ve heard a thousand times before, and will hear many times more before polling day.

Election campaigns can be unpredictable, chaotic and occasionally even thrilling. But they can also be repetitive.

John Swinney during First Minister's Questions at the Scottish Parliament | PA

In Holyrood on Wednesday, where FMQs was taking place a day earlier than usual, Tory leader Russell Findlay lambasted the “incompetent, dishonest and sleazy” SNP government.

John Swinney ought to be ashamed of his record, Mr Findlay said, but “since he was a teenager, he has only cared about one thing – and that’s independence”.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said things are worse now than they were five years ago “on almost every measure”, listing waiting times, homelessness, crime and educational attainment.

“The SNP has had 20 years in power – if they knew how to fix the problems in our NHS, our schools, and more they would have done it by now,” he said.

“That’s why Scotland needs change and a new government that will fix the SNP’s mess, get the basics right and build a better future for our country, Scotland.

“Five years ago the SNP promised recovery and failed. So isn’t it the case that the next five years must be about Scotland recovering from John Swinney and the failing SNP?”

Ross Greer, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, was keen to trumpet his party’s achievements.

“Free bus travel for all young people in Scotland is the Scottish Greens’ proudest achievement of the last five years,” he said, before urging this to be expanded to everyone.

Mr Greer’s last question summed up the general vibe. “Can I ask the First Minister, what is his favourite of the changes delivered by the Greens in this Parliament?”

For his part, Mr Swinney insisted he defends the interests of the people of Scotland “every day of my being”, which sounds intense. He is “raring to go for the forthcoming election”.

The First Minister managed to cram in his usual dig at Mr Findlay’s former support for Liz Truss, and also took a pop at Mr Sarwar’s decision to call for Keir Starmer to quit.

“We’ve had failure after failure from the UK government, and now Anas Sarwar turns round and says that everybody was foolish to vote for that man Keir Starmer, who he argued we should all vote for,” Mr Swinney said.

“I think what that tells us is that Mr Sarwar is a man of poor judgement who the people of Scotland should not listen to and will not listen to on May 7.”

And with that, Holyrood: Series Six drew to a close. There have been a fair few twists and turns (that campervan cliffhanger! the episode with the iPad! Humza Yousaf!), but God knows, it sometimes dragged a bit. I don’t think I’ll be buying the box set.

Will Series Seven inject some fresh energy into an ailing show? Stay tuned.