It never looked likely to be an early election, so the foaming at the mouth prospective headline is essentially anti-snp shithousery (too stupid). But Labour’s budget has been ever so slightly bigger than the Tories, which means it is easier to please the other minor parties.

This is also a dry-run of the 2026 elections in a fashion. Labstain becoming ever more useless. The Tories now in-fighting with reform to be crippled next time. A single Alba likely to be a few next time. The Greens getting more influtlential but still small and idealistic rather than practical. And FibDems still kicking around the fringes trying desperately to be relevant. Somehow Swinney has steadied the ship and made the SNP look like natural leaders to this cabal. But he’s also not advancing independence in any major fashion