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The SNP yesterday made clear that if it forms a minority government on Wednesday it will press ahead with proposals to cut the number of ministers in the Scottish Executive.

John Swinney, finance spokesman, said they were pushing ahead with their manifesto commitment to reduce the number of cabinet posts. They propose to have six ministers in an SNP government, compared with 11 in the last Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition.

Mr Swinney also revealed there were some policies an SNP administration would be able to put into place without gaining majority support in the Scottish Parliament.

With 47 MSPs, they have one more than Labour and have secured a co-operation agreement with the two Green MSPs. But failure to secure the support of Liberal Democrats leaves them well short of an overall majority in the 129-member Parliament.

Mr Swinney has been involved in a "significant amount" of work with civil servants this week to establish the "structure and design of an SNP administration".

He said an SNP cabinet would have six ministers - the First Minister and ministers for finance and sustainable growth, health and well-being, education and skills, justice, and lastly, rural affairs and the environment. There would also be 10 deputy ministers.

Mr Swinney said the party still planned to introduce a white paper on an independence referendum, despite the majority of pro-Union MSPs in the parliament.

12:01am Monday 14th May 2007

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