166. John Swinney: Identity, Independence, and The Future of Scotland

The Rest Is Politics: Leading

Goalhanger

Politics, Government, News

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is the future of the Scottish independence movement? How does the SNP rebuild trust and support for independence after a series of bruising scandals? Why did the Scottish First Minister feel disrespected by a series of Conservative Prime Ministers? Alastair and Rory are joined by Scottish First Minister John Swinney to answer all this and more. Gift The Rest Is Politics Plus this Christmas - give someone a whole year of Rory and Alastair’s miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to episodes and live show tickets, an exclusive members’ newsletter, discounted book prices, and a private chatroom on Discord. Just go to https://therestispolitics.supportingcast.fm/gifts And of course, you can still join for yourself any time at ⁠therestispolitics.com For Leading listeners, there’s free access to the Wordsmith Academy - plus their report on the future of legal skills. Visit https://www.wordsmith.ai/politics Social Producer: Celine Charles Video Editor: Josh Smith Producer: Alice Horrell Senior Producer: Nicole Maslen Head of Politics: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:00.0	Thanks for listening to The Restis Politics. Sign up to the Restis Politics Plus. To enjoy ad-free listening,
0:04.9	receive a weekly newsletter, join our members chat room and gain early access to live show tickets.
0:09.4	Just go to therestispolities.com. That's the restispolics.com.
0:13.1	This episode is brought to you by Wordsmith. A. I mean, increasingly, of course, in all the
0:17.4	organizations we work in, we can get massively slowed up by the paperwork, the processes,
0:23.7	the forms, the legal advice.
0:26.0	And that's why, in business today, it's all of us, legal teams, companies are facing a choice,
0:31.8	lead the AI shift or risk being left behind.
0:34.8	And companies like TrustPilot, Deliveroo, SkyScanter are already leading the way,
0:40.0	with Wordsmith AI alongside them.
0:42.6	It's like giving every lawyer an invisible paralegal, somebody who knows their history,
0:47.0	drafts the first pass and frees up hours for complex work.
0:51.3	Wordsmith handles the routine so that the lawyers can focus on the bigger issues.
0:56.1	Crucially, this isn't at the moment something that's replacing lawyers. It's something that's
1:00.6	taking out the more boring routine task so they can really use their expertise, their experience
1:06.3	and their human judgment in the law. And it wasn't built in Silicon Valley. It was built like so many
1:11.2	great things in history in Scotland, now benefiting companies worldwide. Shifts already happening.
1:17.4	Wordsmith is helping legal teams around the world with clarity and confidence.
1:21.7	There's free access to the Wordsmith Academy, plus their report on the future of legal skills.
1:27.1	Visit wordsmith.a.I. slash politics.
1:39.0	Hello and welcome to the Restless Politics Leading with me, Rory Stewart.
1:43.0	And me, Alastair Campbell.
	...

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