SCOTLAND must unite against Labour’s planned cuts, SNP leader John Swinney has urged, warning that the British government’s new austerity measures will have “profound consequences” for public services and living standards.

Ahead of his first party conference as First Minister, Mr Swinney said that the SNP would focus harder than ever on the people of Scotland’s priorities, pledging that it would set out a real alternative to Westminster control, based on “hope and ambition.”

“SNP delegates gather this weekend in Edinburgh at the end of a watershed week in UK politics,” he  said.