The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Swinney spells out his ABCs as he hits SNP campaign trail
John Swinney arrived to cheering activists in Glenrothes on Saturday as he set out his back-to-basics message to voters for the general election.
Mr Swinney insisted he had united his party in the two weeks since he became first minister and SNP leader and was now ready to face the country.
“It’s as simple as ABC: austerity, Brexit and the cost of living,” he said, setting out his key message to voters.
“That’s what the Conservatives have given us. I’m offering to unite the country on an agenda to tackle that.”
Campaigning alongside Glenrothes and Mid Fife candidate John Beare, the first minister told The Courier he would be relentlessly focused on the concerns of the public.
He added: “I’m offering to unite the country on an agenda to tackle austerity, Brexit and the cost of living.
“I want to be utterly focused on the concerns of the public. That’s what I’m bringing in my leadership to the Scottish Government and the leadership I bring to the country.
“When you take that ABC, these are all decisions from Westminster, the product of decisions by the UK Government.
“If we want to do something, we have to have the power to address that. Voting SNP is the way to tackle the ABC of problems Westminster has inflicted upon us.”
John Beare, a veteran SNP councillor in the town, is hoping to secure Glenrothes for the nationalists again as Peter Grant, the current MP, retires from parliament.
The seat is likely to prove a bellwether for the SNP’S support nationally.
With the SNP having won a majority of over 11,000 in 2019, party insiders agree it would be disastrous for the SNP to lose to Labour’s candidate in Glenrothes, Richard Baker. But Labour remains hopeful as it receives a positive reaction from voters and a recent poll by Yougov suggesting that the SNP could be wiped out in Fife.
Mr Swinney insisted voters looking to oppose the “problems” inflicted on Scotland should stick with the SNP.
He said Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour would “prolong the austerity agenda of the Conservatives”.
He added: “On Brexit, it’s very obvious the damage it is doing, but Labour want to do nothing else about it.
“They’ve just turned their back on an option to enable young people to have free movement between the European Union and the UK. It’s utterly foolish.
“That’s why people need to vote SNP so we have MPS like John Beare who can set out Scotland’s agenda at the heart of Westminster.”
Mr Baker said: “John Swinney’s visit to Glenrothes and Mid Fife so early in their campaign shows how worried they are about losing this seat.
“This is because it is the SNP who have failed local people on NHS waiting lists, affordable housing, and access to dentists.”
The plan to introduce national service would threaten funding for Scotland, the SNP has said, as Scottish parties responded to Rishi Sunak’s proposals.
The SNP set out its opposition to the plans, saying they are “completely out of touch with families and young people”.
Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie dismissed the plans as a “gimmick”.
However the Scottish Conservatives welcomed the initiative, noting Scandinavian countries have similar systems.
Under the prime minister’s plans, 18-yearolds would either join the military for 12 months or spend one weekend a month for a year volunteering for civil agencies like the police, fire service and the NHS.
The prime minister said the policy would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world” and give young people a “shared sense of purpose”.
The SNP highlighted that funding for the plan appears to come from the UK shared prosperity fund – a replacement for EU structural funds.
Amy Callaghan, candidate for Mid Dunbartonshire, said: “The SNP will stand firm against Tory plans to slash Scotland’s funding and impose mandatory national service on young people – showing why it’s essential to vote SNP to get rid of the Tory government and put Scotland first.
“It’s shameful Keir Starmer also claims mandatory national service is ‘needed’ and won’t rule out imposing it on Scottish families. These plans from a bygone era are completely out of touch with families and young people in Scotland – and deeply damaging to Scotland’s communities.
“Only the SNP can be trusted to protect Scotland’s interests. It’s bad enough the Tories and Labour Party are wedded to imposing Brexit, but to slash Scotland’s EU replacement funding by millions of pounds is a national scandal.”
Dame Jackie told Times Radio: “This looks like another multi-billionpound unfunded commitment from the Tories. It’s not a plan of activity, but a review.
“And certainly in the case of the armed forces, the Tories have actually hollowed out the armed forces so that they are the smallest since the days of Napoleon, which is quite extraordinary.”
She added: “I think this is just an unfunded gimmick from the Tories, which they don’t actually believe in.”
Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: “We welcome this initiative, which will bring people together for the common good, in stark contrast to the SNP’S efforts to divide us with their constant push for independence.
“Similar schemes are already in place in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and France is introducing one too.
“The exact details of this will be worked out by the royal commission, but the sort of opportunities being proposed can give our young people help on their future career path at the same time as contributing to wider society too.”
National service conscription last took place in the UK in 1960.
Mr Sunak’s plan involves a royal commission to bring in expertise from across the military and civil society to establish the details of what he described as the “bold” national service programme.
The Conservatives said this commission would be tasked with bringing forward a proposal for how to ensure the first pilot is open for applications in September 2025.
After that, it would seek to introduce a new National Service Bill to make the measures compulsory by the end of the next Parliament.