John Swinney reaches out to Kate Forbes as he confirms SNP leadership bid

dailyrecord.co.uk:

John Swinney has reached out to Kate Forbes as he fired the starting gun on the SNP leadership race today by declaring he was the best person to succeed Humza Yousaf.

The former deputy first minister used a speech at a community hall in Edinburgh's Grassmarket to say had the experience required to steer the SNP through minority government.He said he wanted to work with Forbes to make a "united" SNP.The MSP added he was "no interim leader" and would lead the party through this year's general election and the 2026 Holyrood election.Swinney, who previously led the SNP from 2000-2004, has already racked up a long list of endorsements from Cabinet ministers and other senior Nationalists.The MSP for Perthshire North served as deputy first minister for nearly nine years under Nicola Sturgeon and is a close ally of the party leader.

He has already been branded a "continuity Sturgeon" candidate by political rivals.He said he wanted to bring Kate Forbes into the fold.He said: “I want Kate Forbes to play a significant part… of a united team.”Swinney said he was "no interim leader" and would lead the party through the general election and 2026 Holyrood election.He said: “I am no caretaker.

I am no interim leader.“I am offering to lead my party through the Westminster elections, to lead us beyond the 2026 elections, to contest, which I intend to win for the SNP and for Scotland”.He also said he will keep the party centre-left.He said: “Only the SNP stand where the majority of people want their government to be, in the moderate centre left of Scottish politics.“That is where I stand and if elected by my party and by parliament my goals as first minister will come straight from that centre left tradition – the pursuit of economic