Nicola Sturgeon has criticised John Swinney's Holyrood election campaign strategy, saying the SNP's pitch to voters lacked "vision or big-picture thinking" and was "detached from the big issues bearing down on people's lives". The remarks appear in a new foreword to her memoirs and mark the first time she has publicly criticised Mr Swinney's approach since standing down as First Minister, adding to pressure on the SNP leader following the party's failure to secure a majority in May's election.

The comments feature in a new 6,000-word introduction to the paperback edition of Sturgeon's book Frankly. Mr Swinney had suggested a majority would represent a mandate for an independence referendum, but the SNP fell short. In the same foreword, Sturgeon also accuses her estranged husband, Peter Murrell, of exposing her to "suspicion, humiliation and vilification" after he was jailed for embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP.