Swinney: on the pre-election attack

As Scotland gears up for the Holyrood elections, John Swinney has mounted his latest attack on the devolution settlement.

The SNP leader claimed that London is still in command of Scottish policy and warned that "the devolution settlement is not worth the paper it's written on".

He said Whitehall was still in the driving seat on issues such as the fire strike, the Iraq war, tuition fees and fishing.

"Time and time again, Labour tell us of the harmonious, co-operative relationship between the executive and Whitehall," he said.

"This week however, we have seen the reality. On the fire strike, the deputy prime minister's message is clear - do as you are told. The executive's response has been to fudge and dodge and do everything to avoid a Scottish solution.

"On fishing, the UK sold out our fleet and have then presented the bill for this betrayal to the Scottish taxpayer. They have not even applied for the EU funding that is available.

"In this case, Jack McConnell's response was to announce a redundancy package when what is needed is a recovery plan.

"The same pattern is repeated in tuition fees where London has chosen to introduce top up fees, despite their potentially disastrous impact north of the border.

On the issue of Iraq, the shadow first minister claimed Jack McConnell was too scared to speak out.

"We see the abdication of the executive's responsibility to represent the interests of Scotland. Jack McConnell's refusal to even express an opinion in the recent SNP Parliamentary debate is an indictment of his failure to fight for Scotland," he said.

Calling for Scotland to be given greater financial powers, he said: "Each of these issues reveals that the devolution settlement is not worth the paper it's written on.

"As long as the financial power remains at Westminster they will retain the whip hand and Scotland will remain subordinate to their decisions."