Swinney challenged the crime of youth knives at FMQs

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

It is always interesting to see which topics John Swinney bring on the market for him on a Thursday.

Nine of ten years is an opportunity to try the British government, and today it was no different than it was announced on Monday.

It is particularly noteworthy that Mr. Swinney used this as an opportunity to talk about independence.

It is something that he didn't talk much about during the first year of his leadership of the SNP.

Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that it remains unclear how the constitutional question should progress – or partly because the blows that his party has taken on in parliamentary election campaign.

But it seems like it is something to talk about, since another choice comes across the horizon.

His speech marked a year until the 2026 survey was difficult to independence, and he started to bring references to his FMQS answers.

It feels like the beginning of a pivot point of Mr. Swinney, a step to motivate the base of the SNP to get out next May by leaning into her favorite topic.