Party leaders bid for votes on first day of Holyrood election campaign

With six weeks to go to the Scottish Parliament elections, the leaders of most political parties have made their opening pitches to voters (Jane Barlow/PA) -

Scotland’s political leaders have kickstarted the campaign for May’s Holyrood election – with John Swinney declaring he wants the SNP to “win big” in the vote to force a second independence referendum and help keep Reform UK out of power at Holyrood.

The Scottish First Minister and SNP leader raised the prospect of a potential “grubby, backroom deal between Labour and Reform” at Holyrood if his party fails to win an overall majority.