John Swinney has been accused of signalling “18 months of managed decline” in the run-up to the next Scottish parliament elections, as he set out his inaugural programme for government the day after his finance secretary announced savage cuts to fill a £1bn hole in this year’s government finances.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said the first minister’s programme – the Holyrood equivalent of the king’s speech – revealed “an SNP government with no vision, no strategy and no plan”, while the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Roz Foyer, said the slimmed-down prospectus indicated “managed decline” ahead of the 2026 elections.
