John Swinney: I'm here to make sure SNP win General Election in Scotland

John Swinney has said he plans to win the General Election in Scotland despite polls suggesting the SNP could suffer significant losses.

The SNP leader and First Minister told the PA news agency during a campaign visit in Edinburgh that he is determined to keep building support for his party before the July 4 vote.

It comes after a YouGov poll for Sky News released on Monday, which used the MRP (multi-level regression and stratification) technique, suggested Swinney’s party could be overtaken by the Liberal Democrats as the third largest party at Westminster.

The poll suggested the SNP would win 17 seats at the election, compared to 34 Scottish Labour MPs.

It would be the party’s worst result at Westminster in 14 years, when just six MPs were returned in 2010, and compares to a record 56 SNP MPs in 2015 and 48 at the last election.

Speaking during a visit to Bonnington House Nursery on Tuesday, Swinney said: “I’m really clear that this is a tough election for the SNP. We’ve had a rough period, that’s why I’m here.

“I didn’t expect to be leading the SNP election campaign, but I am – and I’m here to make sure that we win this election in Scotland.

“There’s four weeks of campaigning to go. I want to build SNP support towards polling day.

“We’re focused on taking an energetic, hopeful message to the people of Scotland which is based on the principle that decisions made in Scotland should be for Scotland, and SNP MPs elected to the House of Commons can be relied upon to put Scotland’s interests first.”

Meanwhile, Swinney would not be drawn on whether his party will drop its presumption against new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

He reiterated the need for a “managed transition”.