Rachael Hamilton

- DEPUTY LEADER OF THE SCOTTISH CONSERVATIVES

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JOHN Swinney's got a secret plan. But he won't tell anybody what it is or what he'll do if the SNP win a majority of seats next May. Nicola Sturgeon might be convinced her former deputy knows what he's doing, but Scots who are sick and tired of the SNP's independence obsession are none the wiser.

Most Scots don't want independence and they certainly don't want the misery and division of another vote. There's no secret, however, about the fact that it's the only thing that really gets the diehard nationalists at SNP conference excited.

Mairi McAllan (below) said the quiet bit out loud when she admitted that breaking up the UK would "never, ever be off the table" it would always be more important than day-to-day governing.

That's an appalling admission from the Housing Secretary in the middle of a housing emergency. She's telling people that Braveheart fantasies are more important than getting a roof over the heads of Scotland's more than 10,000 homeless children.

But it's sadly typical of the SNP's total disregard for the basic jobs that governments are elected to do.