John Swinney promises ‘transformational’ help with childcare if SNP re-elected

The SNP leader also promised help for those seeking to buy their first home if his party wins the Scottish Parliament election in May.

John Swinney made his pitch to voters to return him as First Minister – offering Scots more than £500 million of spending on boosting childcare for families, along with cash deposits to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder.

But he also insisted May’s Holyrood elections could be part of an “absolutely seismic moment” where, for the first time, the leaders of all the devolved nations in the UK could be “committed to independence from the UK”.

The SNP leader said they could be “could be no clearer sign” that “Westminster’s time is up”.

Northern Ireland already has a Sinn Fein first minister and, if May’s Scottish and Welsh elections see victories for the SNP and Plaid Cymru, it would mark the first time in devolution that all three first ministers have come from independence supporting parties.

Speaking at an SNP pre-election campaign conference in Edinburgh, Mr Swinney said that independence could be “Scotland’s reality”.

In his keynote speech, he told party supporters: “We are closer to becoming independent than we have ever been. We can almost touch it.

“Support for our cause has never been at such sustained high levels.”

With the 2014 independence referendum having taken place after the SNP won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament elections of 2011, Mr Swinney said his party now “need to do the same again”.

It came as Mr Swinney set out to win the votes of working parents with a “transformational” extension of free childcare.

If the SNP is re-elected – as polls suggest it will be – childcare support would be made available for every child in country, from nine months old through to the end of primary school, by the end of the next parliamentary term.

This help would be available to parents 52 weeks a year, Mr Swinney pledged and would be “backed by over £0.5 billion of new investment”.

The announcement comes after, in its 2021 election manifesto, the SNP had promised to build a “system of ‘wraparound’ childcare – providing care before and after school, all year round”.

SNP sources, however, pointed to the funding linked to Saturday’s commitment from the First Minister, who promised: “We will deliver a brand-new, childcare system that fits around families – rather than expecting families to fit around the system.

“And because parents’ work doesn’t stop during the summer holidays, neither will the provision of childcare.”

While some families will have to pay some costs, for those most in need childcare could entirely free.

“Our new approach will mean families benefit from between £1,400 up to over £11,000 dependent on need,” Mr Swinney said.

“Every single family in Scotland will get help.”

He also promised a re-elected SNP government would “step up” to help those who are struggling to buy a home of their own.

Speaking about how many young people “don’t believe that owning their own home will ever be a reality for them”, Mr Swinney said his Government would look to help those who had been “locked out of home ownership”.

He announced to the conference: “If re-elected, we will provide up to £10,000 towards a deposit to give people the help they need to buy their first home.”

In another pre-election promise, he said the SNP would also seek to double the number of walk-in GP clinics.

In October last year, the First Minister set out plans to create 15 such clinics, but today he promised if his party wins the May election it would deliver 30 such facilities.

And after fire devastated an historic building on Union Street in central Glasgow on Sunday, he promised help for Scotland’s largest city in the wake of the blaze.

The Scottish Government will underwrite the cost, of at least £1 million, of taking down the fire-ravaged Union Corner building, Mr Swinney said, saying money for this “should not come from the public services that Glaswegians rely upon”.

But he went on to pledge cash support for businesses that have been impacted by the blaze.

With some businesses left “utterly devastated” by the fire and “suffering real hardship”, the First Minister promised a £10 million recovery fund that he said would “help rebuild and renew that vital part of the city”.

Mr Swinney declared: “Let me be clear today – we will stand by our biggest city in its hour of need.

“The SNP will do everything in our power to make Glasgow flourish.”

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay MSP said: “John Swinney’s speech was a stark reminder of what is at stake at the election in May.

“He has made it clear that every vote for the SNP will be presented as a mandate for another divisive independence referendum.

“He has already said that he will deploy tactics to break up the United Kingdom. And that’s the risk of an SNP majority.”