Was it unwise to play the independence card so early in the
campaign?
Did you have to retreat from it?
I wouldn't describe it as playing a card.
It's an issue of principle, but given the
implications of Brexit and we don't know yet exactly what they are.
I hope I'm wrong but I think the
approach to Brexit the Prime Minister is taking could be really,
really damaging to our economy and almost every aspect of life.
At the end of that process, not now but at
the end, Scotland must have a choice, once we know what the
implications of Brexit are, to decide if that is right for the
country or if we want to take a different path.
In this moment, independence really has to step
back, because you're talking about a situation in which so much could
happen to the Scottish economy even before you had another referendum.
Which is why I'm not proposing a referendum now.
That's not how it sounded at the beginning.
It sounded like a vote this time would confirm
I need an early referendum.
I've always said I think we should have
that choice.
You do four times more trade with England than with the
whole of Europe, so what happens on Brexit is a massive implication for
use.
I don't think we should lose the ability to trade with the
biggest single market in the world which is eight times the size of the
UK market.
The Prime Minister is at pains to say to the Republic of
Ireland that Brexit doesn't mean Ireland having to choose between
trade with the UK and trade with the EU.
And at pains to say there will be no hard borders.
That is true for Ireland, then it doesn't make any
logical sense to say to Scotland that somehow if Scotland was to have
a different relationship with Europe, but we wouldn't be able to
trade with the UK.
If the polls really do suggest a tightening,
possibly even a minority Tory government, you might be called upon
to prop it up.
What with the price be?
I'm not in the business of propping up Tory governments.
If the arithmetic allowed this to happen I
would want the SNP to be part of a progressive alternative to a Tory
government, an alternative that invested in public services,
protected pensions...
But would-be Labour, would that be progressive
enough for you?
Even with the narrowing of the polls, I think it
looks as if the Tories will win on the strength of what happens across
the rest of the UK.
But what isn't inevitable any more is that Theresa
May increases her majority.
She called this election because she
thought she could crush the opposition, and then she's showed
herself to be the weakest and most evasive leader in living memory.
Scotland has the potential to keep a Tory government in check and make
sure Theresa May doesn't have a majority that is boosted on the
strength of Scottish votes.
The big problem you have is that you have
ten years in power at the Scottish Parliament, running Scotland so far
as you have the devolved power.
I don't think that's a problem.
Take education for example, the record is
very poor indeed.
A loss of 4000 teachers, a ranking on the
international scale that is lower than Scotland has ever seen.
We have challenges in education, but we also
have...
What other challenges?
I also think it's important not to
allow the Scottish education system to be trashed by people who want to
talk down to the SNP government.
We now have more young people coming
out of school with good qualifications than ever before, we
are seeing the gap between the richest and the poorest young people
start to narrow.
We have record numbers of Scottish and people now
going into university, record numbers going into positive
destinations, whether that's for the education or training or work, than
ever before.
I'm looking at grass in the Financial Times that shows
students performance in maths go from a very high level and are
crossing over with England going up and you going down, and the same in
science.
Terrible figures.
I'm not denying we've got challenges I was
about to tell you the various initiatives we are taking to address
them.
In part, you're going to be elected on the basis of your
records.
I think it is absolutely right to hold the Scottish
Government to account but Thursday will see MPs elected that will go to
the House of Commons to vote on public spending.
Whether the money we have available to us to invest in
schools or hospitals goes up or down, to vote on issues like welfare
of the decisions that will determine whether or not a million more
children across the UK are plunged into poverty, something that will
make it harder for any government in the UK to raise educational
attainment.
These are the issues people are voting on.
We know the Tories want to have further cuts, do
we want MPs that will support that or do we want MPs that will argue
for an alternative to that?
Thank you.