No one wants to help the SNP

Humiliation really does concentrate the political mind, doesn’t it? Over the years when the SNP dominated the Scottish parliamentary chamber, ministers spent little time reaching across party lines. Indeed, by the time Nicola Sturgeon was first minister in 2014, for every SNP MSP missing the point in Holyrood, there was another pointing and jeering at anyone who disagreed with them.

In July, the SNP lost 39 of its 48 Westminster seats. Suddenly, cooperation and collaboration became the order of the day.

First Minister John Swinney was the very model of the reasonable man as he announced the SNP’s ‘Programme for Government’ on Wednesday afternoon.

To be fair to Swinney, he is not the instinctive combatant that Nicola Sturgeon was. Even in the most divisive days, Swinney has maintained respectful relationships with his opponents. But after an ugly few years in Scottish politics, his ‘let’s work together’ approach is unlikely to bear fruit.