John Swinney: “I am a forgiving person. It’s part of what my faith is about. It’s about forgiving people when they make mistakes.”

That will include Israel.

In May, the largest number of pro-independence MSPs in history voted to support the call for powers to hold a referendum on Scottish independence to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

We are working to try to ensure the proposals we bring forward are strong and robust and they can deliver the assistance we want to see in place.

I am very pleased to appoint Alyn Smith as Minister-designate for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education.