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LONDON (AP) — Scotland’s former deputy prime minister was poised to become its third leader in just over a year after taking over as leader of the troubled Scottish National Party on Monday.
John Swinney, who led the SNP two decades ago, was the only candidate to replace First Minister Humza Yousaf as party leader.
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The SNP has been in turmoil since long-serving Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon abruptly resigned last year amid a campaign finance investigation that eventually led to criminal charges against her husband.
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Swinney, 60, who joined the party aged 15, will seek to bring stability to the SNP as it fights efforts by its opponents to weaken it ahead of a national general election expected later this year .
“The polarization of politics is not good for our country,” Swinney said upon his appointment as party leader. “I will reach out in good faith to all who are willing to join us and seek compromises that are good for our nation. We need to stop yelling and talking at each other. Furthermore, we need to actually listen. As First Minister I will do exactly that.”
Yousaf announced his resignation last week after a political miscalculation in which he excluded the Greens from the governing coalition of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government. With 63 of the 128 electoral seats, the SNP is one seat short of a majority in the local parliament, so it has to work with at least one opposition party.
The pro-independence SNP was weakened by the campaign finance scandal and disagreements over transgender rights, but was ultimately defeated by Yousaf’s decision to oust the Greens over disagreements over climate change targets. Yousaf was unable to convince the other parties to support his minority government in the Scottish Parliament.
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Facing the prospect of two planned no-confidence votes, Yousaf resigned rather than be forced out of office.
Yousaf will remain First Minister until his successor is elected. Swinney is likely to be elected to the position this week.
Swinney thanked Yousaf for serving with “grace and dignity” and said his “moral leadership on the Gaza issue was a light in very dark times.”
Yousaf won a tough campaign to take over the party after Sturgeon, who was first minister for eight years, unexpectedly resigned in February 2023.
About a month later, Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, the party’s chief executive, was arrested as police investigated how 600,000 pounds ($750,000) earmarked for a Scottish independence campaign was spent.
Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, the party’s former treasurer, were later arrested and questioned as part of the investigation, but they were released without being charged with a crime. Murrell was charged with embezzlement last month.
Swinney had been Sturgeon’s deputy first minister during her term as Scottish leader, but resigned when she left office.
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Conservative leader Douglas Ross said Swinney’s past made it unlikely he would deliver the change Scotland needed.
“John Swinney was closely associated with the disgraced Nicola Sturgeon and his fingerprints are all over her numerous political mistakes and cover-ups,” Ross said.
Swinney promised to lead a center-left government focused on the economy, jobs, the cost of living, the National Health Service, schools, public services and the “climate crisis.”
Swinney said he would make his case to convince people of the need for Scottish independence, which voters rejected in 2014. He cited Brexit and the cost of living crisis, which he blamed on British politicians in London, as bad for Scotland.
“They show why Scotland must be independent, to make our own decisions and shape our best future,” he said. “If someone is a supporter of Scottish independence and wants Scotland to become independent, there is only one political party that will ever succeed and that is the Scottish National Party.”
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar echoed Ross’ comments, saying that “the SNP is offering more of the same.”
“John Swinney has been at the center of this incompetent government for 17 years and at the center of the SNP for 40 years,” Sarwar said. “John Swinney’s record is one of failure.”
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