TWENTY-FIVE years after Scottish devolution, the man expected to return to the SNP leadership after two decades has reflected back on the “changed days.”

John Swinney is expected to be crowned SNP leader and Scotland’s seventh first minister.

Speaking to the Resolution Foundation ahead of taking the reins in a party and government facing its most challenging period in 20 years, Mr Swinney, who has sat in the Scottish Parliament since it was reconvened in 1999, hit out at a new “aggressive” posture towards Holyrood from its Westminster counterparts.