Swinney will not be drawn on scale of financial challenge facing country

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “I think that we’re getting dangerously close to me setting out details that Parliament needs to be told first,” he said. “I want my Government to conduct itself within the parliamentary rules, so let me just say that we face an acute financial challenge and Shona Robison will set out the details of how we’re addressing that on Tuesday.” Mr Swinney has put tackling child poverty at the top of his political agenda, but the potential for in-year cuts to funding could impact his ability to create new measures designed to help families – but the Programme for Government will contain measures aimed at tackling poverty, he said. The First Minister also described claims that the UK Government did not know the state of public finances when Labour won the July election as “baloney”. According to a report in the Times, the First Minister said the party shed 250,000 voters to Labour in Scotland, while the party found its campaign “dwarfed” by Sir Keir Starmer’s message of change.