Who is John Swinney? – BBC News

The SNP has dominated politics in Scotland in recent years and has formed the Scottish government since coming to power at Holyrood in 2007.

It won 48 of the 59 seats in Scotland in the last general election, and is currently the third-largest party in the House of Commons.

But opinion polls have suggested the SNP could be facing a strong challenge this time around from a resurgent Scottish Labour, which is aiming to displace the nationalists in seats across much of central Scotland.

Mr Swinney only took over the party leadership in May following the sudden resignation of Humza Yousaf as first minister, and would not have expected to find himself embroiled in a general election so soon,

The election is being fought against the backdrop of the ongoing police investigation into the SNP’s funding and finances, which has seen former party chief executive Peter Murrell, the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, arrested and charged with embezzlement.

Mr Swinney has also had to contend with the suspension from parliament of former health secretary Michael Matheson over an £11,000 bill that was racked up on his parliamentary iPad while he was on a family holiday.

He admitted in a BBC interview last week that the SNP is facing a “tough challenge” in the upcoming election, and has attempted to portray himself as being a safe pair of hands that will steady the ship after what has been a turbulent period for the party.

He will be hoping that his message of a vote for the SNP being a vote to “put Scotland’s interests first” and to increase pressure on Westminster to grant a second independence referendum will resonate with the Scottish electorate.

Mr Swinney has also been keen to highlight some of the policies that have been introduced in Scotland by the SNP government over the past 17 years, including free prescriptions, the abolition of university tuition fees, free bus travel for under-22s and the Scottish Child Payment.

BBC News will have a profile on each of the major party leaders running in the 2024 UK general election.