John Swinney: 'Starmer will no longer be PM if I win a majority'

The First Minister is hoping the SNP can win a 65-seat majority at the Scottish Parliament election in May. He said this would recreate the SNP’s victory in 2011, which led to the 2014 independence referendum.

Several polls are predicting the SNP will remain the largest party in Scotland after the May election, but will fall short of the 65 seats needed for an outright majority.

A majority in the Scottish Parliament has only been achieved once in 2011.

However, Mr Swinney told BBC Sundays with Laura Kuenssberg that the Prime Minister will be forced out of Downing Street if he gets his way.

During his interview he was asked how he plans to achieve independence when Sir Keir has stated he will not grant a second independence referendum.

Mr Swinney said: “I don’t think Keir Starmer will be the Prime Minister if I win a majority.

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“I think he will definitely be gone.”

He also said: “It is pretty clear in opinion polls that there is a sustained majority support for independence in Scotland.

“My politics are about working at all times to serve the people of Scotland and making our country more successful, but then also enabling our country to take the choice on our future to make sure our future is in our hands.

“If we get a majority in the Scottish Parliament, which is my aim, it will be a repetition of the circumstances of 2011and that led to the referendum on independence.”

An Ipsos poll for STV published last week suggested the nationalists will win 60 seats on May 7. This would be ahead of Scottish Labour on 20 seats, the Scottish Greens on 16, Reform UK on 13, and the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Lib Dems on 10 each.

However the first MRP poll for the Holyrood election conducted by Stonehaven suggested the SNP would win a historic landslide with 67 seats.

Mr Swinney also told Laura Kuenssberg that he would serve a full term as First Minister if the SNP wins the election and forms the next government.

In response, Rachael Hamilton MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ deputy leader, said: “John Swinney made it abundantly clear that pushing his lifelong independence obsession will be the top priority if he’s returned to power in May.

“Voters need to know that he’s deadly serious about his ‘secret plan’ to break up the UK, even though they want him to focus on bringing down taxes and fixing public services that are on their knees after almost two decades of SNP failure.

“Swinney’s misplaced priorities were clear in the shamefully casual way he dismissed safety concerns at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and his misleading claim that most Scots share his independence fixation.”