starmer was visiting greenock last friday he talked about the damaging conflicts ongoing between the uk and the scottish government and he pledged to improve that relationship should he become prime minister. do you commit to working with him on that, on that toxicity that we have seen, even if he suggests it ends up denting the support of independents? i have been engaged with intergovernmental relationships with the government for many years and i have had many occasions where that has been successful and constructive and many where it has been difficult and many where it has been difficult and we have not been able to get agreement. for most of the time that has been a respectful environment. i would say that my experience of the gordon brown government, the cameron and clegg government, the following cameron government and the theresa may governments were generally on issues that affected people prosper but lives pretty constructive. i have to say, i was part of those dis
you have only one mainstream political party offering that, which is the snp. they really want to tap into that pro european vote that exists in scotland and that is not being served by labour or the lib dems and definitely not being served by the tories. they want to capture that mood, that feeling, and that sense in scotland which is still there, all these years on, that scotland voted to stay in the eu and is now outside it, but also it has damaged the economy. not being in the single market or having freedom of movement has hit the scottish economy and they want the viewers to hear that loud and clear from them in the coming weeks. liz. hear that loud and clear from them in the coming weeks. in the coming weeks. liz, you have been in this in the coming weeks. liz, you have been in this situation in the coming weeks. liz, you have been in this situation before - in the coming weeks. liz, you have been in this situation before as - in the coming weeks. liz, you have been in this
theirs for the taking. how will his campaign launch have gone down with the labour party? it is campaign launch have gone down with the labour party? the labour party? it is interesting the labour party? it is interesting the first minister the labour party? it is interesting the first ministerjohn the labour party? it is interesting the first ministerjohn swinney i the labour party? it is interesting the first ministerjohn swinney is| the first ministerjohn swinney is not afraid, not shying away from, the fact that his party, the snp, have gone through a difficult time over the last few months, whether it is his predecessor humza yousaf or nicola sturgeon. he described this election as the biggest challenge the snp has had for years. he began his speech by saying he did not expect to be in this position four weeks ago anti did notjust mean being in a general election, he meant being the snp leader. he spoke of a specific policy area that led to the downfall of his predecessor hum
issues that affected people prosper but lives pretty constructive. i have to say, i was part of those discussions and i thought they were generally in a pretty constructive environment. after the arrival of borisjohnson intergovernmental relationships i would essentially describe it as disrespectful. we didn t change, they did. so if sir keir starmer is saying, should he become prime minister, that he is keen to have a serious, mature, respectful engagement with the scottish government, he will have absolutely no issues with me. i think people know me well enough to know i am a serious player when it comes to these negotiations. i did after all managed to negotiate our fiscal freedom which was enormously beneficial for scotland. so fiscal freedom which was enormously beneficialfor scotland. so i am interested in this negotiation. but i also know what disrespectful relationships look like and they
cheers of the afternoon. let s not forget that five or six weeks ago no one was expecting john swinney to be leader of the scottish national party, to be first minister, let alone to be leading the scottish national party into a general election. he touched on that at the start of his speech and said it was a surprise and he described it as the loveliest of surprises. he then went on to talk about the dates of this election, the 4th ofjuly, independence day he said four friends in the us. that went down very well with the crowd. but he was trying to talk to people beyond the room. the room was full of activists and candidates and he was trying to get the message out to people beyond that room, that the snp will be a champion for everyone in scotland. we had the election campaign launched today. what happens next forjohn swinney? forjohn swinney? well, this election campaign forjohn swinney? well, this election campaign is - forjohn swinney? well, this election campaign is only i for