FM John Swinney was on Good Morning Scotland - 8.1.25

FM JOHN Swinney has said delivering independence is an “urgent priority” as he hit back at a BBC presenter during an interview on Wednesday morning.

The FM spoke with the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme the day after Anas Sarwar announced Scottish Labour would be abstaining on the Budget.

Among the topics to come up was the prospect of independence, with host Gary Robertson asking if it would be “page one, line one” of the manifesto ahead of the 2026 election.

Mr Swinney replied: “I think everybody knows John Swinney well enough to know that he’s committed to Scottish independence and wants to deliver it as an urgent priority for the people of Scotland.”

Asked specifically how he would achieve this, Mr Swinney said it was crucial to build “political support for independence” so that it is a “compelling proposition to the people of Scotland”.

Pressed further on what exactly this meant, the FM said independence would only come about if “two things happened”.

He said this was a high level of support for the SNP and “if people are convinced by the merits and the arguments for Scottish independence”.

“And that’s what I intend to make sure is at the heart of SNP campaigning and at the heart of the SNP manifesto,” he added.

Robertson then replied and said: “You’ve been campaigning on this all your life Mr Swinney. So, just more of the same?”

The FM hit back at Robertson however, saying: “When you started interviewing me all those years ago Gary, it was a very different prospect.

“And we got incredibly close to winning independence in 2014 and the opinion polls show that public support for independence is very, very high.”

At the beginning of December, support for independence hit its highest level in four years (54%) in polling from Norstat.

The National also revealed through polling from Find Out Now that support for independence was four points stronger than that of support for the Union and that this would surge were Nigel Farage to become Prime Minister.

Robertson once again interjected to say that supporters of independence may wonder what the “final push” is to achieve this goal and that Swinney was suggesting “it’s exactly the same as what you’ve been doing for all of your life”.

Mr Swinney replied: “Well what I’m suggesting and what I’ve been doing for all of my life has been getting closer and closer to Scottish independence and I intend to finish the task.”

Asked how long this would take, Swinney said he wanted to do it “as quickly as possible,” but that this would only happen once enough people had been persuaded.

[billbhein]

It's good to hear John Swinney talking about Scottish Independence. We must hear more of this from the SNP leadership. The SNP should target the 2026 election to ram it through.. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ...

[johnbuchan]

Hey Gary did you have a butcher's apron over your back. 🇬🇧

Hey John great to hear you talking independence.

[johnnicolson]

More than half the country wants the SNP to find a way for Scotland to to leave the UK

[patriciafergus]

Significant rise in 'flu' perhaps due to the fact that people are terrified of putting on their heating due to the rise in costs, which Wm could have dealt with !

[rosiemcgregor]

Independence
Independence
Independence 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[stephenkelly]

We are a sovereign country in a treaty with England high time to end it. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[patriciafergus]

For goodness sake Gary.... waiting times ? how long is a piece of string ! The RUK have over 8 million people waiting for treatment ! Scotland is doing far better, admit it ! You are mentioning IFS.... is this not a 'think tank' of the Wm government ?

[WVislandia]

Please, Mr. Swinney, have your government deal as high priority wealth inequality. I've already forwarded this info to the Finance Chief but you can learn what it is through free-to-view videos on Garys Economics and if you watch the most recent one - is the government bankrupt - you can see the disaster that was caused by giving money to the rich during Covid. Please deal with this and independence - those two matters are extremely important to all in Scotland.

[colinj]

give all expats who still hold a current uk passport a postal vote in 2026 john

[tomwaller]

The SNP and all Scottish National political parties across Scotland MUST get their act together and lead the people of Scotland. You can start by recalling all SNP MPs from Westminster Swinney! Or is your plan to wait until violence breaks out across Glasgow, and then Westminster can impose direct rule as they did in Ireland? Grammarly assistance is unavailable for the selected text because it may contain sensitive content. Try something else. UK Censorship at its BEST Swinney! SHAME ON YOU LOT. You disgust me SNP. I have been a member since 1974 and this year I resigned. My life time and STILL NO INDEPENENCE YOU are a UNIONIST.