Why general election manifesto release could be John Swinney's Euros moment - Scotsman comment
This week, in particular, could be key to the overall fortunes of the SNP leader and his party.
Mr Swinney is set to unveil the party’s general election manifesto on Wednesday. And while he has already promised that independence will “proudly sit on page one, line one” of the manifesto when it is launched, it seems there are doubters within the ranks of Nationalist supporters over just how prominently the subject will feature.
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Hide AdSuccession star Brian Cox – a high-profile independence supporter – has said he is worried the SNP “could be backing away from the notion of independence”.


“I don’t know if Scotland [has] backed off, but I think that it’s something that worries me, because I still … believe in independence,” he told the BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.
Worryingly for Mr Swinney, a Savanta poll for The Scotsman published earlier this month showed more than one fifth who voted SNP at the 2021 Holyrood election believe the case for independence is weaker now than it was back in 2014.
And former Labour prime minister Tony Blair has said in an interview published today that Scottish independence is further away than ever.
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Hide AdAgainst this backdrop, the First Minister is under pressure to use his document’s launch – coming 24 hours after Scottish Labour publishes its own manifesto – to regain momentum at a time when a succession of polls have shown the two parties to be neck and neck in Scotland.
Much as Scotland has to step up against Switzerland on the pitch on Wednesday night in Cologne, the spotlight is equally on Mr Swinney. And he will know a misstep at this point of a tight campaign could mean it ultimately ends up being one to forget.