John Swinney, the day before yesterday's man, and the SNP are running scared of an election – Jackie Baillie

The SNP has reasons to fear the verdict of voters with almost one in six people on NHS waiting lists, rising drug deaths, long waits for social care, a stagnant economy, multiple housing emergencies...

“Fewer people dislike Swinney than Forbes” is not the slogan you want to begin your campaign for First Minister with. However, SNP MP Kirsty Blackman’s frank assessment sums up where the nationalist party find themselves.

That’s their problem but following Humza Yousaf’s tumultuous fall from grace, Scotland has the prospect of a second SNP First Minister who hasn’t faced the electorate. It’s a tartan template of what the Tories have done at Westminster, with Truss and Sunak. Neither government respects democracy and an SNP stitch-up, if that is what transpires, does not respect the parliament expected to give the next un-elected First Minister a mandate.

After days of speculation, Kate Forbes courageously stepped aside to allow a coronation. The SNP will try to spin this as a return to stability. Instead it’s Back To The Future that Swinney left us with: a trashed economy, worsening education standards and local government devastated. He's not just yesterday's man, he's the day before yesterday's man.

John Swinney is set to become the next First Minister of Scotland (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The new leader will rely on the Greens for a parliamentary majority. Kicked out of Bute House last week, they still get influence by declaring who they will and won’t work with. It’s Bute House 2.0 for the SNP.

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That’s why Labour tabled a motion of no confidence in the Scottish Government. That's why we will continue to argue this is a government which cannot deliver stability for Scotland. That’s why it is time for change.

What has the SNP to fear from an early election? Is it worried about voters’ verdict with almost one in six people on an NHS waiting list while none of the SNP’s targets to end long waits are being met? Do they fear judgment on the ten per cent increase in drug deaths, and the 10,000 people waiting on social care assessments and support?

Or is it that economic growth is stagnant, that funding for colleges and universities has been slashed? Or the record high number of households, particularly those with children, in temporary accommodation?

While the SNP fixates on its latest round of bloodletting disguised as a leadership contest, a fifth local authority, West Dunbartonshire, has declared a housing emergency. The SNP government slashed the housing budget by £190 million.

Climate targets have been scrapped too. That’s where we came into the room, or rather where Yousaf exited. Remember it was his woeful failure on tackling the climate emergency which precipitated his downfall.

People are tired of two failing governments. They want change. They want a government focused on their priorities: the NHS, the economy and education. Instead, there will be more division, more acrimony, but zero focus on the things that matter.

Whoever becomes SNP leader and First Minister will obsess about one thing, independence. It is a fixation actually, as there has been no new thinking on the issue since the SNP lost the 2014 referendum and carried on under the delusion they’d won.

It is time for the people of Scotland to have their say. It is time to elect a government that is capable of delivering on the ambitions and hopes of the people. This is a government and a party on the run, and if they choose a clapped-out Volvo estate, they’re not going to get very far.

Jackie Baillie MSP is Scottish Labour’s deputy leader