Scotland’s first minister has said he is willing to engage with Sir Keir Starmer over a potential plan to ban smoking in beer gardens and other outdoor venues.

John Swinney told Sky News he would work constructively with the UK government to consider “the right balance of regulation”.

It comes after the prime minister confirmed on Thursday that smoking is a “huge burden” on the NHS, with ministers now looking at a potential ban in various places, including pub gardens, outdoor restaurants and outside sports venues, hospitals, nightclubs and in some small parks.

In 2006, Scotland was the first UK nation to ban smoking in public places.

With the responsibility for the issue devolved in Scotland, the first minister said he “certainly would engage on these questions”.

Speaking to Sky News political correspondent Rob Powell, Mr Swinney said there was a lot of “debate and concern” about the ban almost 20 years ago, but the improvements in public health since have been “very, very welcome”.

He added: “They’ve been good measures. So, I think we’ve got to be engaged about these questions as to what’s the right balance of regulation.

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“I’ve seen the reports from the United Kingdom government about this question. And of course, as with all of these questions, we engage constructively about many of these issues.”

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Mr Swinney also said Chancellor Rachel Reeves was “wrong” to compare the Scottish government’s record on economy to the previous UK government.

Ms Reeves had said: “The SNP government is as guilty as the Conservative government of spending more than they were bringing in, and now the Scottish government are having to make difficult decisions.”

Mr Swinney branded the claim “baseless”, stating the Scottish government has balanced its budget every single year.

He said: “I’m afraid the chancellor’s completely wrong on that, because for every year that we’ve been in power, we’ve balanced our budget.

“We’ve lived within our means, so we’ve not overspent by a farthing.”

The first minister added: “We’ve had sky-high inflation, which has increased costs, and budgets have not increased to take account of that.”

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Mr Swinney would not be drawn on whether his government will continue the SNP’s flagship council tax freeze.

The first minister said: “We don’t have sight of what our budget is going to be like for the next financial year.

“I’m very unnerved by the speech the prime minister gave on Tuesday, which I interpret as a continuation of the austerity agenda of the Conservatives.”

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Mr Swinney was speaking ahead of his first conference as party leader in almost two decades.

The SNP’s 90th annual national conference will take place between Friday and Sunday at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).

It’s the party’s first convention since losing dozens of MPs in July’s general election, falling to just nine.

Mr Swinney said: “What I’m going to say to the party is that we are a vehicle that’s got to earn the trust of people in Scotland. That’s the foundation of politics.

“So, that’s about delivering on some of the key concerns of the public in Scotland – about ending child poverty, about stimulating our economy, about making the move to net zero, about improving our public services.”

The first minister said the party has also got to give the people of Scotland “some hope and ambition”.

He added: “And the hope that I want to bring to this conference is the fact that the challenges we face today would be addressed if Scotland was an independent country, and the SNP’s got to make that argument to the people of Scotland.

“And that’s precisely what we’ll do at this conference.”

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