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Scotland’s First Minister claims UK is in ‘perilous state’ and ‘falling apart’

01 Sep 2026 5 minute read

First Minister John Swinney during First Minister’s Questions at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday May 28, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Katrine Bussey, Press Association Scotland political editor

The United Kingdom is in a “perilous state”, John Swinney has insisted, claiming that the four nations that make up the country are “falling apart”.

He spoke out about the “perilous position” the UK is in as he hit out at Prime Minister Andy Burnham – insisting that the Labour leader’s tour of the country had been a “lecturing tour” rather than a “listening tour”.

The Scottish First Minister went on to claim it is “completely unsustainable” for Mr Burnham to dismiss his call for a referendum on Scottish independence, as well as demands for a vote on a united Ireland.

Making his first visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister last week Mr Burnham was clear that a referendum on Irish unification is “off the table”.

He is also the latest in a line of successive UK leaders to reject calls from the Scottish Government for a fresh vote on Scotland’s place in the UK to be held.

Mr Swinney however said that elections in May, where the SNP won its fifth consecutive term in office at Holyrood, and which led to Plaid Cymru forming a government in Wales, showed that “we have got a United Kingdom that is falling apart”.

He made the comments in an interview with the Press Association, which came in the wake of the Scottish Government publishing a draft Bill to hold a second independence referendum.

With Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin the First Minister in Northern Ireland, Mr Swinney noted: “We’ve got a Scottish Parliament with a larger number of independence supporting and independence referendum supporting MSPs than ever before, a Plaid Cymru government in Wales and Sinn Féin occupying the office of First Minister of Northern Ireland.

“That indicates to me a United Kingdom that is in a perilous state of affairs.”

While Mr Burnham was in Northern Ireland as part of his “listening tour”, Mr Swinney said the Prime Minister’s dismissal of a referendum on a united Ireland showed that he was engaged in a “a bit of a lecturing tour”.

The SNP leader said Mr Burnham “went to Northern Ireland and told the people of Ireland that, despite there being a treaty commitment in the Good Friday Agreement for there to be a process by which a united Ireland could be created through a border poll, that was off the table to the people of Northern Ireland”.

He added: “The same issues apply here in Scotland, where Scotland has a Parliament today that has a larger number of members than ever before who are committed to the concept of Scotland deciding her own future and supporting independence, yet the Prime Minister decides he has the right to ignore that.”

He declared: “I don’t think that’s much evidence of a listening Prime Minister, I think that is evidence of a lecturing Prime Minister.”

With Mr Burnham planning to hold talks with the Scottish and Welsh first ministers, and the First Minister and deputy First Minister from Northern Ireland at the National Economic Council in October, the SNP leader said that “that is where I think the United Kingdom is in a perilous position”.

He added that at the meeting “there is going to be such a dynamic in that dialogue which is so very different to everything that has happened in the past”.

Mr Swinney said this could be “such a significant moment for Scottish independence”, as he insisted the Prime Minister would not be able to maintain his opposition to a second independence referendum “in the face of the strength of view across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland”.

The First Minister added: “My whole approach is about ensuring that the Prime Minister can not sustain an undemocratic position.

“Part of the answer to that lies in Scotland, in the way in which we demonstrate our support for independence.

“Part of it lies in how I interact with other parts of the United Kingdom, who like me want their people to have a right to decide their own future.”

While 45% of Scots who voted in the 2014 referendum backed leaving the UK, Mr Swinney said opinion polls now show that support for independence is “pretty consistently in the lead”.

He continued: “It is completely unsustainable for the Prime Minister to take an argument that he and he alone is able to stand in the face of the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland, or of Wales or of Northern Ireland.

“That is a completely unsustainable position for the Prime Minister to occupy.”

A UK Government source however said that Mr Burnham had visited Scotland in his first week in office, saying that he “looks forward to visiting again soon”.

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