John Swinney pledges 100,000 more GP appointments to reduce pressure on NHS
Anas Sarwar accused the SNP of having "nicked" the plan for more appointments from Labour.
John Swinney has pledged Scots will benefit from 100,000 more GP appointments by next year in a bid to ease pressure on the NHS.
The First Minister made the commitment as part of his last Programme for Government ahead of the crunch 2026 Holyrood election.
The move will see GP surgeries invite patients with a history of certain conditions to make appointments in advance.
It follows negotiations between SNP ministers and the British Medical Association (BMA).
Claiming the SNP had 'nicked' the policy from Labour, Anas Sarwar said: 'It's not exactly the borrowing powers I thought the SNP had in mind.'
It came after the First Minister insisted he was putting a 'renewed and stronger NHS' at the heart of his plans for the next 12 months.
Swinney accepted the difficulty many face in getting GP appointments can cause 'deep frustration' in what he said was 'described as the 8am lottery'.
To tackle that he promised 'an extra 100,000 appointments in GP surgeries', with the SNP leader going on to add these would be 'focused on key risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and smoking'.
Meanwhile, he said the move to scrap peak-time rail fares for good from September 2025 was part of a 'package of cost-of-living support' offered by the Scottish Government.
A pilot project had already seen peak-time rail fares in Scotland scrapped, leaving travellers paying the cheaper, off-peak prices regardless of when they travelled.
Swinney said: 'Given the work we have done to get Scotland's finances in a stronger position, and hearing also the calls from commuters, from climate activists and from the business community, I can confirm that, from September 1 this year, peak rail fares in Scotland will be scrapped for good.'
He added that this was 'a decision that will put more money in people's pockets and mean less CO2 is pumped into our skies'.
On ending child poverty, something the Scottish First Minister has declared as one of his key priorities, he said over the next year the government would consult on and develop a new Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31.
Swinney said this would outline the actions to be taken 'to keep us on the journey to meet our poverty reduction targets for 2030' – when the number of children living in relative poverty should be reduced to 10% or less.
The new plan will 'focus on reducing household costs, boosting incomes through social security, and helping more people into fair and sustainable jobs', the First Minister added.
His Programme for Government also promised more money for the Acorn carbon capture and storage project planned for the north east of Scotland.
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