Swinney has work cut out to heal SNP divisions before 2026

Recriminations are well under way as the dust settles on a disastrous General Election for the SNP that saw the party’s tally of MPs reduced to single figures.

In the immediate aftermath of Thursday’s vote, party leader and First Minister John Swinney said he accepted full responsibility for the result. But Mr Swinney had only recently been persuaded out of semi-retirement to take on the role, after Humza Yousaf’s resignation, when Rishi Sunak announced his decision to call the 4 July election.

For many within the SNP’s ranks, the lion’s share of the blame lies squarely at the feet of former leader Nicola Sturgeon, who quit unexpectedly 18 months ago with no apparent succession plan in place.

First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney campaigning with the party's Edinburgh South West candidate Joanna Cherry on the General Election campaign trail last month. Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Appearing as a pundit on ITV’s election night coverage alongside former Tory Chancellor George Osborne and ex-Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Ms Sturgeon suggested the SNP was being punished by voters for not pushing independence hard enough. During her time as leader, Ms Sturgeon had said the election would be a “de facto referendum” on leaving the UK.

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Yet, as Mr Swinney and his colleagues frequently pointed out on the campaign trail, independence was “page one, line one” of the party’s manifesto.

Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry – ousted by Labour in Edinburgh South West – yesterday said Ms Sturgeon owes an apology to her and her colleagues who also lost their seats.

Ms Cherry, who has repeatedly said she felt “excluded” from the party after speaking out against its stance on gender reforms, said Ms Sturgeon was “a very strong leader who brooked no debate and no dissent, as I know to my considerable cost”.

Mr Swinney does not have much time to heal his party’s internal divisions before a Holyrood election likely to take place in 2026.

But – having been Ms Sturgeon’s right-hand man and at the heart of the SNP since his previous leadership in 2004 – he may have difficulty persuading some within the party and the wider Nationalist movement that he is the right person for the job.