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John Swinney has applied to become the next Scottish Prime Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, making him the first candidate in the race to replace Humza Yousaf.
At a press conference on Thursday, Swinney said he would “stand for election as leader of the SNP” and wanted to “unite the Scottish National Party and unite Scotland for independence”.
The former deputy first minister, who led the SNP between 2000 and 2004 and was supported by senior party figures, said he would offer his main opponent Kate Forbes a “significant” government post if elected.
Swinney described Forbes, who narrowly trailed Yousaf in last year’s hotly contested leadership contest, and said she was considering running this year, as “intelligent, creative and thoughtful.”
According to the Press Association, Forbes, which held informal discussions with Swinney on Tuesday, is expected to say later on Thursday whether she will enter this year’s race.
Swinney also rejected suggestions that he would serve a temporary term at the helm of Scotland’s largest party and pledged to lead the SNP through the upcoming Westminster general election and beyond the 2026 Holyrood vote.
“I’m not a caretaker, I’m not an interim leader,” Swinney told reporters, adding that his party was facing “difficult times” and that he was running to “resolve” internal divisions.
The SNP faces a major challenge from Labor, which hopes to take more than 20 seats from the nationalist party in the general election. Labor has just two Scottish MPs in Westminster, a far cry from its heyday under Sir Tony Blair when it had 56.
Yousaf, who resigned this week after losing the support of the Scottish Greens by scrapping a power-sharing agreement, will remain head of the devolved government in Edinburgh until a successor is chosen.
The party hierarchy wants to avoid a repeat of last year’s brutal leadership contest, which exposed internal divisions over social issues.
Swinney and Forbes would have to work with other parties to become first minister and pass new laws, given the parliamentary math: the SNP has 63 seats and the opposition 65.
Swinney said on Thursday he was in the “moderate centre-left” of Scottish politics, with a focus on social justice and economic growth to support public services.
Forbes was appointed Scotland’s first female finance minister in 2020 by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a close Swinney ally. But her stance on same-sex marriage hurt her campaign last year.