First Minister's Questions 5th March 2026

Podcasts By The Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament

Government

4.8 • 25 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

The First Minister answers questions from Party Leaders and other MSPs in this weekly question time.Topics covered this week include:Kenneth Gibson To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the UK Government’s Spring Statement. Stephen Kerr To ask the First Minister, in light of the recently published Commission on School Reform manifesto warning that the curriculum for excellence has been poorly implemented and is harming long-term prospects, what the Scottish Government's position is on whether a lack of clear, nationally specified curriculum content and standards has contributed to declining attainment and inconsistency across Scotland’s schools. Katy Clark To ask the First Minister, in light of the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day being equal rights and equal justice, what action the Scottish Government is taking to improve the legal rights of women and girls. A full transcript of this week's First Minister's Questions will be available on the Scottish Parliament website: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report

Transcript

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0:00.0	questions. The next item of business is First Minister's questions. I call Russell Finley at
0:04.8	question number one. John Swinney personally backed Sally Donald to become a new SNP member
0:13.1	of the Scottish Parliament. At her glitzy campaign fundraiser, he gushed about her in glowing
0:20.4	terms. Mr Swinney was at the top table,
0:23.7	smiling. He was by her side. That was just 12 days ago. Yesterday, Sally Donald was forced to
0:32.3	quit as the SNP candidate for Edinburgh Southern. So when exactly did John Swineau that his star candidate was
0:41.9	under investigation for benefits fraud?
0:44.8	First Minister.
0:47.9	Mr President, I am going to do my level best answer the questions that Russell Finley has put to me, as I always do, but I'm also not going to talk about individual cases, because it is important that I respect the proper process that the government has put in place to ensure that issues in relation to Social Security payments and potential fraud are dealt with properly.
1:13.5	In relation to the specific question that Russell Finley raises to me, I first became aware
1:19.9	of these issues when the Government received a press inquiry about the subject in recent days.
1:24.5	Russell Finley.
1:25.5	Thank you. John Swinney's stark candidate used a crowd funder to raise over £1,200 for her campaign.
1:32.5	I mean, anyone who's daft enough to trust their cash with the SNP.
1:38.6	We're going to hear Mr Finley just now.
1:40.8	Anyone who's daft enough to trust their cash to the SNP needs to give their heads a wobble.
1:47.3	But, President Officer, I'm more interested in taxpayers' money, because this case illustrates so much that's wrong with the SNP's benefit system.
1:57.7	Thanks to the Scotsman newspaper, we know that Sally Donald may have claimed
2:01.9	tens of thousands of pounds in ADP to which she was not entitled. I've repeatedly challenged
2:10.5	John Swinney over the SNP's deliberate light-touch benefit system, being wide open to abuse. But he is in denial. He told me,
2:23.1	and I quote, if there's evidence of fraud, these issues are already addressed by the systems
2:30.0	that Social Security Scotland has in place. Does he stand by his claim that the system is strong
	...

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