Kate Forbes has backed John Swinney to improve the SNP’s reputation for “competence and integrity” after a bruising general election defeat.

The deputy first minister publicly supported Mr Swinney after one of his former cabinet colleagues said he should make way for Ms Forbes or SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.

Alex Neil said the party should appoint a new leader who was not associated with “years of failure” under Mr Swinney and his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.

The SNP returned just nine MPs at the election, down from 48 in 2019, as Labour won a landslide victory both north and south of the border.

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Ms Forbes – who returned to government as Mr Swinney’s deputy after agreeing not to challenge him in a leadership contest in May – said the election result had been “difficult” for the party.

She warned against “navel gazing”, insisting the party should listen to the electorate.

“They want to see change,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “This was a change election and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Ms Forbes added: “Competence and integrity must be the hallmark of our leadership and it’s certainly the two words that have been on John Swinney’s lips prior to the election, throughout the election and now in the aftermath of the election.”

The deputy first minister called for “transparent and open” government.

“Those are two flags, as it were, that need to be planted on everything that we do and I believe John Swinney is the leader to do that and I am very pleased to be supporting him in his mission to achieve that,” she said.

Mr Neil – who served in cabinet with Mr Swinney between 2011 and 2016, latterly under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership – called for the party leader to be replaced.

He told the Herald newspaper: “The only two people who we have there are Kate Forbes and Stephen Flynn.

“My view is that Swinney should hand over to that new generation.”

Former SNP MPs Joanna Cherry and Angus MacNeil have also been critical of the party leadership during Ms Sturgeon’s reign.

Mr Flynn, who clung on to his Aberdeen South seat, said the SNP should be guided by the “brutal honesty” of the election results, though he backed Mr Swinney to lead the party.

“Honesty and humility is the only response with any hope of winning back those who voted for others or those who decided to stay at home,” Mr Flynn wrote in the Daily Record.

The Aberdeen South MP said it was clear the party’s “internal difficulties” in recent years had been a “distraction”.

He said it “meant people began to feel that we were detached from their daily lives and lived experience”.

Unsuccessful SNP Falkirk candidate Toni Guigliano – who lost what had been the party’s safest seat in 2019 to Labour – said voters wanted to give them a “bit of a kick” and tell them “you need to get your house in order”.

However, he said Mr Swinney was the “last person” who should be blamed.

Mr Guigliano said his campaign was affected by a scandal involving local MSP Michael Matheson, the ex-health secretary, over an £11,000 bill racked up on his parliamentary device.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime the issue had come up on doors “every single day” during the campaign and that the SNP had to do “better on trust”.

Mr Guigliano said that the public were not “in the same space” as the SNP when it came to independence, and warned the party had been having “a conversation amongst ourselves” when discussing its strategy in the past year.

He also said the police investigation into SNP finances had been a “huge issue” and added: “People who ask questions about that aren’t able to get an answer from the party – that’s a very difficult position to be in in a democracy.”

Former SNP chief executive, Ms Sturgeon’s husband, has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the party as investigations continue.

Former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the party “certainly” did not need a change at the head of the party.

“I think John has to be given time to show that he can lead the party and lead the government,” he told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland.

He said voters had been focused on the cost of living and public services in this election.

Mr Blackford said that in the run up to the 2026 Holyrood election the SNP needed “to make sure that we can build the narrative as to why independence is important to deal with the challenges that we face”.