Question: On fishing, has London sold out Edinburgh, or has Edinburgh sold out the fishermen?

John Swinney: It's a bit of both, the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh has demanded that the UK government leads in the European negotiations on fisheries, that's been their established position. We think that Scotland should be directly represented at the top table of Europe.

There is the possibility within the devolution settlement that ministers in the Scottish Executive can represent the UK position on the council of ministers and that's exactly what we think should happen and should have happened in December. Now why do we think that?

Well, we think that because the majority, overwhelming majority of the fishing industry in the United Kingdom is located within Scotland, so why not have a Scottish minister with that as his or her top priority negotiating on our behalf in Europe?

What we saw in December was a deal negotiated by a UK fisheries minister, who actually isn't interested in all the issues affecting the fishing industry in Scotland and who delivered what can only be described as a dreadful deal and saying it was a dreadful deal's not just my political rhetoric, that's what the Scottish fisheries minister described as the deal delivered by the UK fisheries minister so representation in Scotland, for Scotland, in the European negotiations is essential.

So that brings me to the package that's been announced. The package the government has announced is about redundancy when it should be about recovery and that's my problem with the government's package. It's all about slimming down, cutting back, reducing the size of the fishing fleet, and that's positively the last thing that we should be doing.

Question: What would happen in constitutional terms if the SNP won a majority of seats in the Holyrood elections?

John Swinney: Well, what the SNP would do as a cast iron commitment of any SNP administration in the four years in which it would be elected to serve, would be to bring forward a referendum of the people of Scotland, in which they would be asked a question, upon which we would consult about it's terms, as to whether Scotland would become an independent country and that would give people of Scotland, as they had over devolution, a very clear and simple opportunity to decide whether they wanted to proceed from devolution to independence and that would be a referendum that took place away from an election in which people would have that clear and simple choice.

Question: So you could potentially have an SNP administration managing devolution? Is that an admission that you could make devolution work but aren't so certain that independence would work?

John Swinney: Well, I'm certain that independence will work for Scotland because I could point to a number of different things that independence would give us the powers to do. It would give us the power to positively tackle the issues of poverty within Scottish society, because we would have powers over employment policy, over the economy and over social security policy.

We could make the economy grow, because we'd have access to powers over fiscal taxation and the ability to create Scotland as a more competitive business location in which to be based so independence can work because it would give us the powers to reinvigorate Scottish society and the Scottish economy and generate more wealth.

But obviously, on the first day, May 2, the day after the elections, the hospitals of Scotland, the schools of Scotland, have got to continue to operate and we as an SNP administration would have to give people the comfort that they were secure in their homes and their streets, because the police service was still operating so there's a day one obligation to make sure the public services of Scotland under devolution continue to operate, and that's exactly what the SNP would do but we'd also, within the four years of our term in office, bring forward a proposal to decide on the issue of independence to give people the constitutional opportunity to achieve the powers we think are required to transform the Scottish economy, and win the battle against poverty.

Question: What would then be the number one priority of an SNP executive?

John Swinney: Well, any government has a range of different priorities. Amongst the priorities, the most significant priorities for the Scottish National Party would be to hold a referendum on independence, to revitalise the economy, to ensure that we delivered proportional representation and reform to our local authorities, to ensure that we transformed public services on health, education and crime.

These would be the most significant priorities of an SNP administration and we would pursue with them with the vigour that would be required to ensure their success.

Question: Does the party have enough cash internally to fight a modern political election?

John Swinney: Yes. The SNP runs a very tight and effective party headquarters that is now, I think, widely regarded within the political system in Scotland, is developing and delivering some of the most innovative campaigning techniques in Scotland.

That gives us a great advantage and we obviously raise the money to ensure that we can provide that type of campaign within Scotland. I think if you spoke to any political journalist in Scotland, they would reflect on the fact and observe the fact that whatever they think of the SNP, they think we're very well organised for this forthcoming election: that we have the arguments together, that we have the campaigning priorities in place for us to be successful.

Question: I know Thatcherite Nationalists and left-wing Nationalists. Isn't that your biggest problem - the absence of a common political philosophy?

John Swinney: Well there is a common political philosophy for the SNP. We are a democratic, left of centre political party that believes that Scotland will only prosper and achieve its full potential when we have independence. That is the ideology of the Scottish National Party.

Our policy priorities reflect that and we pursue that in a consistent way across Scotland. The SNP has a very clear and comprehensive political message, but it doesn't waver from one part of the country to the other.

Question: If you were managing devolution could not a situation of stalemate develop between London and Edinburgh? Could that not only lead to a worse deal for Scotland?

John Swinney: Well, the challenge for any Scottish executive is to make sure it can deliver as much as it possibly can do within the devolved settlement, that would be the purpose of my administration to do that, as effectively as we possibly could do.

That surely should be the objective of any Scottish executive and when I look at the fishing deal, for example, that's been delivered by the UK government onto Scotland as a result of European negotiations, I cannot for the life of me describe that as the executive doing the best it possibly could do.

For example they could have demanded as I would demand to lead the UK delegation on fisheries within devolution.

I wouldn't settle, I wouldn't stop pestering the prime minister until such time as he agreed to ensure that the delegation was led by the Scottish first minister.

It is a very basic issue to ensure our interests are well represented.

So there's a lot, lot more to be done and obviously that opportunity is unleashed by the SNP winning the elections on 1 May.

Question: Scottish politics is still seen as very harsh - isn't that damaging to the body politic and turning voters off all parties in Scotland?

John Swinney: Well, what I hope is that the type of campaign that we're fighting, which is an open campaign, it is an active campaign, it sees me travelling to all sorts of different parts of the country on a very regular basis to put forward our message and to listen to the views of the electorate, and it's that type of engaged political campaign that I think will attract people to the political process.

Now, there's no shortcuts for getting public involvement in the political process, we've got to make sure that we work hard to engage the public. That's why I'm committed, for example, to major media debates with the other political leaders in Scotland, to make sure all the issues of the election are well-aired in advance of the contest.

I'd like to say the same for the other political leaders in Scotland but the first minister has certainly been rocked to agree to these types of debates.

Question: In the opinion of quite a lot of Scots, the Holyrood parliament has performed little better than a West Coast council - isn't that a worry for all parties?

John Swinney: Yes there is a concern over the performance of the parliament.

I think the parliament has performed poorly for three reasons - first, the ludicrous decisions that were taken by the Labour party in terms of the site and the contract structure for the new Scottish parliament building, which has attracted a tremendous amount of antagonism, and indignation from members of the public, quite understandably and quite rightly.

Secondly, we've had a very poor executive, a Liberal-Labour executive, which has really not delivered on their very basic promises. They promised to cut hospital waiting lists and waiting times, and they've actually gone up since this executive has come to power. This is one example of their failure.

But thirdly, I don't think the parliament has got the powers to deliver on the expectations of the people within Scotland. If we stopped the average person on the street in Scotland, they would say to you that they would expect a parliament to invigorate the economy and to cut poverty.

They've done neither since the parliament was established, not because there is a lack of willing, because there isn't the powers to do it.

Question: The SNP has lost two MSPs amid bitter recriminations - what is at fault, the party or the selection process?

John Swinney: Well, obviously individuals made their choice about whether they want to remain associated with a political party.

One individual you referred to decided she didn't want to remain part of the SNP group and left it. Another was selected as an SNP candidate, but didn't get quite the prominence that she looked for in a regional list and decided to move on. Now, these are decisions individuals arrive at.

What I'm concentrating on is the fact that we are the principle opposition party, we are ahead of where we were in the 1999 election in the opinion polls, we've got off to a flying start in our election campaign and I'm determined to maintain that momentum right up until polling day, and that's a very optimistic view, optimistic prognosis, of what the SNP has to offer in this forthcoming election.

Question: Given that you say the parliament has made a botched job of it, are you confident that you have done enough to exploit Jack McConnell's weaknesses?

John Swinney: Well, if you look at the major political issues of the day, whether it's about the failure of the government on hospital waiting lists, or the battle against crime, or the weakness of the fishing deal, the SNP is in the leadership position in counting what the government is doing.

We seize every opportunity to highlight how we could do things better and differently from what the government does, and that's a central purpose of an opposition.

Question: Do you think Alex Salmond has any desire to return to his old duties?

John Swinney: Alex and I have been close political associates for many, many years. Alex made it perfectly clear that he would view it as ludicrous to come back into the SNP leadership.

I'm elected to lead the party and command the support of the party and I'm focused entirely on winning the elections on 1 May.

Question: What personal characteristics will you bring to the post of first minister?

John Swinney: I would be a first minister that the public of Scotland could trust to deliver on his word and a first minister that would deliver an ambitious vision of how Scotland could release our potential as a country, and ensure that Scotland became the best that Scotland could be.

Question: How likely do you think it is that that will happen?

John Swinney: I think it very likely that I'll be the first minister after the May elections.