Has John Sweeney got the SNP ‘on the back foot’?

It’s been a decidedly tumultuous year on the Scottish political scene, and for none other than John Sweeney.

As recently as April this year, the SNP veteran was a humble backbencher at Holyrood, beginning to wonder whether he might step down in 2026.

But then there was the self-imposed demotion of Hamza Yusuf, which brought Mr Sweeney back into government.

He was back on the campaign trail as his party suffered one of its worst electoral reverses in its history – a result he says could easily have wiped him out.

And now he insists the SNP is back on the front foot heading into the Holyrood vote – where he says he will seek a full term as First Minister until 2031.

First Minister Spoke to BBC Scotland’s Podiatical Podcast. Go behind the scenes on the big moments of 2024.

The SNP was not in a happy place at the end of the year.

Hamza Yusuf came to office after a fractious leadership contest, and events seemed to be stacked against him at every turn.

Every time he planned a big announcement, Police Scotland seemed to catch it with a new twist. Operation Branch Forman inquiry into the SNP’s funding and finances.

Mr Youssef was keen to allow more debate around the direction of the SNP in a break from the ultra-tight circle run by his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.

But it led to constant questions and rebellions over policy, the abandonment of some controversial proposals, and particular debate about the party’s partnership in government with the Greens.

Mr Youssef eventually showed them the door unceremoniously, and within days the Greens made it clear they could help return the favor through a confidence vote at Holyrood.

The first minister had to go. And with the SNP teetering on the brink, it turned to John Sweeney.

He was seen as taking the job – which he had decided not to run for a year earlier – out of loyalty to his party rather than personal ambition.

He admits that his “sense of duty prevailed” – “I felt that I had to come back and strengthen and rebuild the reputation of my party and the public”.

The scale of the problem was immediately apparent when a general election was called a few weeks later.

Mr Sweeney described watching the exit polls come in – delivering the news The SNP lost most of its seats. – and thinking “it actually could have been worse”.

“The conditions I inherited, we could have easily wiped out,” he said. “I don’t think it would have taken long for that to happen, when you look at the vote shares and what’s going on.”

This is not to avoid the gravity of the result – the reduction from 48 seats to nine was “absolutely a huge blow”.

But Mr. Sweeney always felt he could pick up the pieces.

He said that that is why my party approached me. “They knew that if there was anyone on the planet who could turn things around for the SNP it was John Sweeney.”

This kind of quickness seems more in the vein of Alex Salmond than John Sweeney.

Mr Sweeney acted as his right-hand man before taking on a similar role under Nicola Sturgeon.

But he says his plans for his own leadership were more influenced by talks with backbenchers – including Lib Dem Willie Rennie.

The two spoke for “quite a long time” on the sidelines of a gender reform debate at Holyrood that lasted into the night, and Mr Sweeney says he clearly felt he was out of the habit of talking to opposition MSPs as well. have been .

He had more time for such chats during his tenure on the previous benches, and on returning to government “I was determined not to lose that important understanding of the need to connect.” will”.

Running a minority administration, Mr. Sweeney knows he needs to build bridges and find common ground with opponents to get anything done.

But that doesn’t mean there is no time for politics.

The draft budget was the culmination of a period of intense maneuvering between the SNP and Labour, two parties which are fighting for a very similar voter base and which see each other as their main electoral rivals.

It signaled a major change in tone from the government and possibly momentum in Parliament.

In September, Finance Secretary Shauna Robison Made a lot of cuts in the year. To balance the books, talking glumly about austerity.

Two months later she was announcing dramatic new initiatives, and delivering a message of “hope”.

The injection of cash from the Treasury was undoubtedly important, but Mr Sweeney says the “really tough things” that had to be done in September put the government in a position of stability from which it could make further policy choices.

The most surprising choice was a promise. Lower the two-child limit on benefit payments.which ministers have long lamented and insisted they do not have the power or funding to replace.

The announcement was included in the budget so late that the Scottish Finance Commission did not have time to cost it. The watchdog called it a “financial risk”.

Mr Sweeney rejected the idea that the plan was drawn up at the last minute because the original “rabbit out of the hat” – a Recovery of winter fuel payment For pensioner households – should have been released a week earlier.

He said the budget-making team, along with himself and his deputy Kate Forbes, along with Finance Secretary Shona Robison, were “very close to building”, looking for measures that would have the “biggest impact” on child poverty. put

“We kept feeling there wasn’t enough,” he said, and “we came to the conclusion that we had to add it to the program”.

The announcement left Labor in a tailspin.

It ended a period of several years where it looked like the SNP was in the bunker. ditching controversial policies, desperately trying to raise funds to keep expensive existing commitments, and doing little that was new or noteworthy.

Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, said it was “a clear statement that the SNP remembers that being in government enables them to push the political agenda in Scotland”.

Mr Sweeney insists the SNP is “on the back foot, and intends to stay there”.

It will not be straightforward, as many of the pressures facing the party have not gone away.

The operation branch form will be completed at some point, in some way.

The SNP is still short of cash after the general election disaster, and is laying off its headquarters staff..

Mr Sweeney still heads a minority administration, which is short on goodwill in Parliament.

Former flagship policies have run out – it’s only a matter of time. The National Care Service has been abolished.Once he gives himself an excuse to blame the opposition.

The first test of Mr. Sweeney’s outreach program will be a vote on the budget in February.

They plan to take to the streets in January to “communicate the benefits of the budget to the people, to ensure that the people put pressure on Parliament” and to vote for it.

Appealing to the public before an election campaign is certainly an easy task.

Mr Sweeney admits he might have stood in 2026 if he had stayed on the backbenches.

Hamza Yusuf announced that he was doing just that.Making way for a “new generation” at age 39.

His successor, meanwhile, will now be gearing up for a full term as First Minister until 2031 – the year he turns 67.

Mr Sweeney says he has been reinvigorated by what he calls a “sabbatical” – saying “the best thing that ever happened to me was to stand down and spend a year out on the front line. “.

He found time in Perth for parkruns, hill walks and standing on pitches watching his son play hockey.

He says it was a chance to “totally recharge physically and mentally” and insists that after 27 years at Westminster and Holyrood, he is fully prepared for another seven years at the top job. .

This will require the support of the electorate – and Mr Sweeney will need overwhelming support if he is to achieve his ultimate political goal of Scottish independence.

The constitutional question, which has been crucial for the past decade, seems to have calmed down after the general election results.

The defeat followed one in the Supreme Court, which meant that the levers for triggering independence appeared to be largely out of the First Minister’s hands.

After years of scratching his head about ways to force the issue, Mr Sweeney insisted he did not want to “get caught up in the process”.

But some within the movement worry this means there is no plan, no road map to independence.

After years of talk about a “de facto referendum” and complex solutions, Mr Sweeney says there is a “hard reality” – “independence will not come until enough people in Scotland want it”.

He says he is focused on delivering good government, to demonstrate that Holyrood is capable of running its own affairs.

And it’s a job Mr Swinney insists he’s not only enjoying, but “loving” every moment.