John Swinney does not expect Sir Keir Starmer to still be in office at Christmas
Mr Swinney suggested forthcoming elections in Scotland and Wales and local elections in England could put pressure on Labour.
Scotland’s First Minister has said he does not expect Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to still be in office by Christmas.
John Swinney said it is “patently obvious the Labour Party is absolutely toiling” at the moment.
With Holyrood and Welsh Senedd elections taking place on May 7 along with local elections in England, Mr Swinney suggested poor results for Labour could spell the “end of the road” for Sir Keir.
He also said that polls in Scotland are “encouraging but not certain” for the SNP and that the party is working hard to win at the Holyrood elections.
In an interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Mr Swinney said he does not think Sir Keir will remain Prime Minister if the SNP win a majority in the Scottish Parliament elections in May.
He was asked: “Do you expect to see Keir Starmer in office at Christmas time?”
Mr Swinney replied: “No, I don’t.”
He added: “I think it’s patently obvious the Labour Party is absolutely toiling just now and when I look at the opinion polls that are taking place in Wales just now, it looks highly likely it will not be a Labour first minister in Wales, it will be a Plaid Cymru first minister.
“The polls in Scotland are encouraging but not certain for the Scottish National Party and working very hard to win the election so we’ll find ourselves in a situation where there’ll be the potential for a Sinn Fein first minister in Northern Ireland, a Plaid Cymru first minister in Wales, an SNP first minister in Scotland and Reform all over the place in England.
“And I think that’s the end of the road for Keir Starmer.”
Asked whether that would by implication be the end of the road for the United Kingdom, Mr Swinney said: “I want Scotland to be independent and that’s my policy objective, it’s my political objective.”
Mr Swinney has set the bar for another referendum on independence at a majority of SNP MSPs – 65 seats or more – similar to what was reached in the 2011 election and triggered the first vote three years later.
Mr Phillips asked whether if the SNP win a majority he would take that as a “green light” to demand another referendum on independence to which Mr Swinney replied “yes”.
Asked what he would do if Sir Keir turns down a request for a referendum, he said: “I think there’s two things about that.
“First of all, the United Kingdom has, is allegedly a partnership of equals, so Scotland has got a democratic right to decide our own future.
“And secondly, if I win a majority in the Scottish Parliament elections in May of this year, I don’t think Keir Starmer will be the Prime Minister.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “It is John Swinney who will not be in office next Christmas, as Scottish Labour is planning to boot him out of office after 19 years of dismal SNP government, which he has been at the heart of.
“The reason that John Swinney wants to talk about the arguments of the past is that he has absolutely no vision for the future.
“If he had any ideas about how to fix things in Scotland, such as our NHS, our schools, and our justice system, we would have seen them by now.
“While John Swinney arrogantly takes for granted the votes of the public and assumes he will remain as a First Minister leading a tired SNP government into its third decade, Scottish Labour will work relentlessly to offer the people of Scotland the chance to take a new direction with Anas Sarwar.”
