John Swinney declared “a new chapter in our party’s history” as he became leader of the Scottish National party on Monday, but said recent infighting and chaos had left the public “worried about where we are as a party”.
Speaking to senior SNP politicians and activists at an event at the University of Glasgow, Swinney said his decision to stand for the role of leader – after Humza Yousaf announced his intention to step down a week ago – was “not born out of long-held ambition but rather a profound sense of duty to my party and my country”.
He said he made no apology for the fact he was the only candidate to put himself forward. Last week his most likely rival, Kate Forbes, a former finance secretary who came close to beating Yousaf last year, ruled herself out of the contest and backed Swinney, saying she was persuaded by his pledge to “govern from the mainstream”. A last-minute threat to the coronation was averted late on Sunday when the SNP activist and serial leadership critic Graeme McCormick chose to back Swinney after a “lengthy and fruitful conversation”.
Endorsed by senior figures across the party, Swinney told his audience that his amicable talks with Forbes and McCormick demonstrated that “the SNP is coming back together again now”.
The 60-year-old, who has held numerous senior positions at party and government level, including a previous stint as leader from 2000-04, said he would be calling on “skills honed over decades” to put together “an inclusive and unified team”, enable “open and respectful dialogue” across the party and ensure that the SNP “looks outward to the people of our country and inward to ourselves”.
With recent polling indicating a further slump in support for the party in a Westminster election and Scottish independence supporters no longer automatically aligning with the SNP, Swinney said he wanted to earn those votes back.
“The SNP’s been having a tough, rough time. It has lacked cohesion and that has come across to members of the public and they are worried about where we are as a party.”
He added: “If there’s some disaffection between people who support independence and previously voted for the SNP I will be working very, very hard to win those people back.”
Yousaf dramatically quit last Monday after he unilaterally axed a three-year-old governing agreement with the Scottish Greens, prompting them to back a vote of no confidence tabled by the Scottish Conservatives. With his own party two votes short of a Holyrood majority, Yousaf found himself unable to garner sufficient cross-party support.
Swinney, who is expected to be voted in as first minister by MSPs on Tuesday, must now lead a minority government. He said he intended to find “common cause” with parties across the Holyrood chamber, working “issue by issue”, but would not return to “fixed arrangements” such as the Bute House deal with the Scottish Greens.
He added he was sure there remained “a lot of common ground” with the Greens, who want Swinney’s administration to press ahead with policy priorities including rent controls and a ban on conversion practices.
Addressing speculation that he would move the SNP back to the centre ground and away from Green-led policies such as gender recognition reform that have proved distracting and divisive for the party and unpopular with voters, Swinney said he would follow a “moderate centre-left agenda – that’s where I come from, that’s where my party’s policy base is and that’s how we’ll take it forward”.
He added that his driving principle was to eradicate the “curse” of child poverty, saying there was no need for a Holyrood election to secure a personal mandate.
Swinney also paid tribute to Yousaf, who he said had acted with “grace and dignity in acutely difficult circumstances” such as the period when his in-laws were trapped in Gaza under Israeli bombardment last autumn, adding he was sure he still had a significant contribution to make to Scottish politics.
But his entreaties to work cross-party were roundly dismissed by opposition leaders. The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, said: “John Swinney’s coronation is entirely about managing the SNP rather than running our country and delivering for Scotland.”
He added: “John Swinney has been at the heart of this incompetent government for 17 years … From presiding over the exam results scandal as education secretary to destroying public finances as finance secretary, John Swinney’s record is one of failure.”
