John Swinney is facing a “tough job” as Scotland’s new First Minister because the SNP lacks a majority at Holyrood, one of his predecessors has warned.
As Mr Swinney was sworn in to the top job in Scottish politics on Wednesday morning, Mr Salmond told the PA news agency: “He’s got a tough job on with the parliamentary arithmetic.” As finance secretary in the first SNP government, John Swinney, left, worked closely with then first minister Alex Salmond
Claiming the Greens, who until two weeks ago were part of the Scottish Government thanks to a powersharing deal with the SNP, had “developed a sense of entitlement”, Mr Salmond also advised the new First Minister to “redirect” his policies “to the people’s priorities and redirect away from the Green hobby horses”.