Good afternoon. As promised, SNP leader John Swinney presented his party’s manifesto earlier today with an unambiguous first line: “Vote SNP for Scotland to become an independent country”. But that feels a pretty long way off today - and the party that has dominated Scottish politics for so long is in danger of an imminent electoral collapse, instead.
More on how Swinney is trying to fend off that danger, and why Carrie Johnson’s summer suddenly looks a lot better, after the headlines.
