David Cameron’s fear that the SNP will win a third Holyrood election victory is “reason enough” for Scots to vote for the party in May, the country’s Deputy First Minister said.
John Swinney insisted that the Prime Minister and his Conservatives “don’t like having a government in Scotland which stands up to them”.
He spoke out as he opened the SNP’s biggest ever spring conference in Glasgow.
The event is taking place less than two months before the next Scottish Parliament elections – the first in which SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is standing for First Minister.
Mr Swinney, who is the SNP’s election campaign director, hailed Ms Sturgeon as being “by far and away the best candidate for First Minister”.
He asked: “Can anybody seriously imagine the other party leaders in Scotland so effectively standing up for Scotland?”
Mr Swinney told the conference: “A couple of weeks ago the Prime Minister came up to Scotland and talked about how much he feared an SNP victory in May.
“It seems that the Tories don’t like having a government in Scotland which stands up to them.
“Now I think that’s good reason enough for us to get out there and campaign for a strong SNP victory.”
The SNP has been in power in Edinburgh since 2007, with the party first operating as a minority administration before winning a Holyrood majority in May 2001.
Opinion polls north of the border show the party on course to win a second majority term in the Scottish Parliament, with Mr Swinney saying the party would “never become what we have so recently overcome – the failed and complacent Labour Party”.
Mr Swinney said: “Our opponents often say that they want to fight this election on the SNP’s record in government.
“But they don’t need to worry – we will be talking a lot about our record over the next few weeks. That’s for one simple reason, the Scottish National Party in government has record to be proud of.”
He added: “When we first took office in 2007, none of us knew that we’d face the toughest recession in living memory, and the harshest Tory austerity.
“But we’ve used every power and every pound at our disposal to move Scotland forward.”