John Swinney sworn in as Scotland’s first minister

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Scottish National Party (SNP) veteran John Swinney was sworn in as Scotland’s first minister on Wednesday, after he emerged as the sole contender in the contest to pick a new premier after Humza Yousaf’s resignation.

Yousaf, who had become the first Muslim to lead a democratic western European nation when he was sworn in as first minister in 2023, resigned last week after his decision to end a coalition in the Scottish parliament with the Green Party backfired, triggering a race to determine his successor.

Swinney’s key challenge will be to halt the slide in the SNP’s popularity after a string of scandals and political missteps, while keeping alive its ultimate goal of winning independence from the United Kingdom.

The new first minister was SNP leader from 2000-2004 and had also served as Scotland’s deputy first minister and finance minister.

The SNP has dominated Scottish politics for 17 years but its popularity has slipped over the past year amid a funding scandal, a series of political blunders, and criticism of how it runs the country. It now heads a minority government in Holyrood.

The slide has boosted the hopes of Britain’s opposition Labour Party of regaining ground in Scotland, one of the United Kingdom’s four nations, as it seeks to win a British parliamentary election expected later this year.

The SNP aims to reinvigorate the push for another referendum on independence from the United Kingdom.

Scots voted against splitting from the United Kingdom by 55% against 45% in a referendum in 2014, but the independence movement says Britain’s later departure from the European Union changed the situation and another referendum is justified – a claim that both the ruling Conservative Party and Labour reject.