For a decade, or what feels like an eternity, the central organising principle of Scottish electoral politics has been the constitutional question. Within a reasonable margin of error, you could tell what side of most political debates someone would fall based entirely on whether or not they support independence.

It has felt like the page has been turning on that period for some time. On Wednesday, it turned, and it was the SNP who turned it. The new First Minister John Swinney’s Cabinet reshuffle was the SNP’s acknowledgement that it’s no longer the constitution, stupid, it’s the economy that matters most now.

Mr Swinney’s reshuffle was a largely understated affair. The only changes at Cabinet level were the reintroduction of Kate Forbes, as deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Gaelic, and the stripping of the deputy First Minister role from Shona Robison (still Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government) and the economy brief from Màiri McAllan (still Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy).

But it sent all the signals Mr Swinney wanted it to. Ms Forbes’ elevation brought her back into the fold and will have reassured her backers that Mr Swinney is intent on being the unifying figure that he promised to be when he launched his leadership campaign last week. And by giving her the economy brief, separating it from net zero and removing the ‘wellbeing’ prefix, he signalled to the business community that economic growth will be a major focus of his government.

Independence is off the table - for now (Image: free)

Otherwise, Mr Swinney went........

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