John Swinney arrived to cheering activists during a campaign stop over the weekend where he set out his back to basics message to voters for the general election.
Mr Swinney claimed he’d united his party in the two weeks since he became first minister and SNP leader and was now ready to face the country.
“It’s as simple as ABC; austerity, Brexit and the cost of living,” he said, setting out his key message to voters.
“That’s what the Conservatives have given us. I’m offering the unite the country on an agenda to tackle that.”
Campaigning in Fife, the first minister said he would focus on the concerns of the public.
It comes as he’s been caught up in the scandal attached to his SNP colleague Michael Matheson.
Mr Matheson had tried to bill the public for his massive iPad roaming bill, run up while his parliamentary device was used to watch football while on a family holiday.
Moving on to bread and butter issues, Mr Swinney said: “I’m offering to unite the country on an agenda to tackle austerity, Brexit and the cost of living.
FM: I’ll focus on concerns of the public
“I want to be utterly focussed on the concerns of the public. That’s what I’m bringing in my leadership to the Scottish Government and the leadership I bring to the country.
“When you take that ABC, these are all decisions from Westminster, the product of decisions by the UK Government.
“If we want to do something we have to have the power to address that. Voting SNP is the way to tackle the ABC of problems Westminster has inflicted upon us.”
Labour’s Brexit policy ‘utterly foolish’
Mr Swinney insisted voters looking to oppose the “problems” inflicted on Scotland should stick with the SNP.
He said Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour would “prolong the austerity agenda of the Conservatives”.
He added: “On Brexit, it’s very obvious the damage it is doing, but Labour want to do nothing else about it.
“They’ve just turned their back on an option to enable young people to have free movement between the European Union and the UK. It’s utterly foolish.
“That’s why people need to vote SNP so we have MPs who can set out Scotland’s agenda at the heart of Westminster.”
Scottish Tory MSP Craig Hoy said: “John Swinney has some nerve talking about uniting Scotland when the centrepiece of his campaign is the SNP’s divisive effort to break up the UK.
“For him and his party, this election is about one thing and one thing only: their independence obsession, which he’s said will be page one, line one of the SNP manifesto.”
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