John Swinney's attempt to change the culture of the SNP has the party on side but will it reach voters?

John Swinney has insisted that the SNP is under new leadership.

The First Minister has attempted to distance himself from troubles hanging over the party – as he launched his pitch to voters to stick with the SNP at next month’s general election.

John Swinney during the SNP General Election Campaign launch. Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Mr Swinney and his SNP colleagues will be throwing scorn on Labour’s plans. The FM warned that Labour will simply continue austerity, something be insists Scotland cannot afford. Labour’s has promised strict financial rules, drawn up by the party to boost confidence it can handle the economy. But Mr Swinney has warned that Labour’s refusal to raise taxes or borrowing limits means that it will have to cut £28 billion from public spending.

In the absence of concrete spending plans from Labour, Mr Swinney is onto a winner.

But where voters may now be convinced is his strategy to put independence front and centre of the election campaign. Separation from the United Kingdom, Mr Swinney argues, is the only way to halt the austerity that Scotland has faced under the Conservatives and is set to endure under Keir Starmer.

Pressing the independence case is a sure-fire way to get activists and candidates in campaign mood – it has worked like a charm in the past. Mr Swinney’s campaign launch speech had activists on their feet – a change from the unenthusiastic support Humza Yousaf suffered at times from his own team.

But outside of the room, with the wider public, it is a huge risk – with the cost-of-living crisis and the austerity Mr Swinney has warned about more likely to exercise voters.

What Mr Swinney has done is try to distance himself with the past culture of the SNP – parts of which are a huge turn off for voters.

Asked about the finances scandal still hanging over the party, Mr Swinney gave his “personal assurance” that all funding the SNP receives will be spent as it should.

Maybe this will come as no shock, but for Mr Swinney to acknowledge that assurances are required, could be seen as a positive step-change.

Since becoming First Minister, Mr Swinney has made huge efforts to insist that he is looking for more co-operation and less hostility in politics.

Some of that has been forced upon him but the fact he is overseeing a minority government. But it is clear some of that is coming from a personal wish for a kinder politics.

Mr Swinney intervened when a BBC reporter asked a question scrutinising independence and the austerity it could potentially lead to.

But the SNP leader scolded his party troops – demanding no booing, jeering or clapping during the Q&A session with the media. He got what he asked for.

Mr Swinney appears to have his party on side – whatever factions still exist, the SNP looked more united than it has been in some time. But the biggest test, and potentially the biggest fear for the party, is taking its message onto the streets and trying to win the support of the public.