Swinney promises £500m childcare boost and more GP walk-in clinics

The first minister has pledged to spend more than £500m on boosting childcare provision if the SNP is re-elected in May.

John Swinney said the party would "extend childcare for every child in the country from nine months old to the end of primary school" if returned to government.

Care would be available 52 weeks a year, with Swinney saying he had "heard the calls from parents across the country" who are "struggling to juggle work and childcare".

Swinney also pledged to double the number of planned GP walk-in clinics and provide money to help Glasgow "flourish again" after the Union Street fire.

Speaking at the SNP's spring conference in Edinburgh, the SNP leader said the improved childcare offering would be "backed by over half-a-billion pounds of new investment".

"We will deliver a brand-new childcare system that fits around families rather than expecting families to fit around the system," he said.

"And because parents' work doesn't stop during the summer holidays, neither will the provision of childcare."

He added: "Our new approach will mean families benefit from between £1,400 up to over £11,000, dependent on need.

"Every single family in Scotland will get help."

Swinney also recommitted his party to the cause of independence and said he would use the powers of statehood to ban from Scotland any foreign military engaged in illegal conflicts.

The first minister also said the SNP would go further in the provision of walk-in GP clinics.

Swinney told the conference: "If re-elected, the SNP will deliver 30 GP walk-in clinics across the country.

"We will double our original pledge. Reaching more villages, towns and communities the length and breadth of Scotland.

"In Angus, Livingston, Paisley, Inverness, Glasgow, Falkirk, Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Lanarkshire, East Kilbride, Tweed Valley, East Renfrewshire and Dumbarton. That is the SNP delivering for Scotland."

He committed a package of measures aimed at helping Glasgow in the wake of last week's Union Street fire.

Swinney announced the Scottish government would cover the cost of clearing the site of the fire in Union Street.

"That is £1m that should not come from the public services that Glaswegians rely upon," he said.

"This SNP government will therefore underwrite the cost of clearing the site, meaning not a penny of the city's public services budget will be lost."

He also announced a £10m recovery fund to support the council, businesses and agencies to help "rebuild and renew that vital part of the city."

"Let me be clear today - we will stand by our biggest city in its hour of need. The SNP will do everything in our power to make Glasgow flourish," he said.

Swinney was speaking at his party's final conference before the May election.

Swinney's pre-election pitch was rich with new policy promises for the next five years should the SNP retain power at Holyrood.

He announced a further expansion of free childcare, the offer of £10,000 loans to help first-time buyers fund their deposits, and a doubling of the number of new GP walk-in clinics.

As these pledges are contested in the campaign to come, there will inevitably be questions about affordability at a time when spending watchdogs are worried about the long term cost of social policy.

Of course the SNP's long-term plan is for Scotland to become an independent country.

There were plenty of references to that ambition, not least because the party wants to solidify its base and win back pro-independence voters who have drifted elsewhere.