Stirling politicians welcome appointment of new SNP leader as Swinney gains FM role

The election of John Swinney as the SNP’s new leader – and presumed First Minister – has been praised by Stirling’s MP and MSP.

The veteran Perthshire North MSP was confirmed as the party’s new chief on Monday after it was confirmed he was the only candidate in the contest to succeed the departing First Minister Humza Yousaf.

Mr Swinney is now set to be nominated by MSPs as Scotland’s next leader in the coming days.

The 60-year-old admitted in a speech on Monday that his party was going through a “rough time” and vowed his leadership would be about “coming together and dedicating ourselves to the service of Scotland”.

That message has been backed by Stirling MSP Evelyn Tweed, who gave her support to Mr Swinney – praising him as a “man of integrity and compassion” who carried “widespread respect” across the party.

Following the news of Mr Swinney’s success, Ms Tweed offered her congratulations on X, writing: “Delighted to see JohnSwinney will become our new leader of the SNP and is now set to become the next First Minister of Scotland.

“Looking forward to working with John as we move Scotland forward towards the General Election and on to independence.”

Ms Tweed’s SNP colleague and Stirling MP Alyn Smith has also registered his support for Mr Swinney in recent days and was also quick to offer his good wishes.

In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr Smith labelled Mr Swinney “the right person for the right role at the moment”.

He added: “I look forward to him uniting the party.

“My happiness is tempered by the scale of the task that we’ve got to do.

“We’ve got a lot of things we need to change about how the party has been operating lately.”

Mr Swinney had initially faced questions of a contest from Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes – but Ms Forbes pulled out of the running and gave her backing to Mr Swinney, with rumours of Ms Forbes being offered a senior role in a future government.

Meanwhile, SNP activist Graeme McCormick was rumoured to be gathering a challenge for the role after claiming last week he had enough support from party branches to put himself forward.

But he also confirmed he wouldn’t stand in the contest in a statement on Sunday night – leaving the pathway clear for Mr Swinney to take on the role.