A rattled John Swinney was savaged over the SNP’s dismal record on the NHS on live TV last night.

In the first leaders debate of the election, the First Minister was hammered by audience members over the state of the health service after 19 years of the SNP.

One accused the Nationalists of creating a ‘two-tier’ system in which patients were forced to raid savings to pay for urgent care to avoid mammoth waiting lists.

After he tried to boast about rising GP numbers, host Stephen Jardine reminded him the SNP was so far behind on its recruitment target it would take until 2050 to meet it.

‘You’ve been in power for 20 years, take some responsibility for once,’ Anas Sarwar told him.

The SNP leader was also accused of ‘arrogance‘ after appearing to suggest his victory was assured in May.

He told the Scottish Labour leader: ‘I’m very proud to be here, and I look forward to being here for a lot longer, Anas, when I defeat you on the 7th of May.’

Mr Sarwar snapped back: ‘That’s arrogance, John. People across the country will decide. You don’t decide who wins the election. The people of the country do.’

But it was the NHS which most animated the audience at the BBC Debate Night Leaders Special form Paisley Town Hall.

One elderly man in the audience told Mr Swinney: ‘The reality is that the Scottish Nationalist government has driven us towards a two-tier health system.

‘In the last three weeks, I know of someone who was 83rd in the list of seeing a doctor in accident and emergency and had to wait 10 hours to be seen.

‘I know someone who’s waited for over two and a half years to get an audiology test [being] driven to paying £1,800 to buy from a High Street store.

‘Within four days, they had their hearing aids.

‘The Scottish Nationalist party have extended the waiting lists to where we are today.’

Mr Swinney said: ‘There are people who have waited too long for treatment, and some of that is a product of the impact and the disruption of the Covid pandemic.

‘I am absolutely focused on making sure improvements are delivered.’

It prompted another audience member to weigh in: ’Integrity matters. To blame the pandemic is just an absolute disgrace. The waiting lists were growing before the pandemic.’

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: ’This is John Swinney all over - if you can’t blame Westminster, he blames Covid.

‘The [first] gentleman was bang on - there is already, under the SNP government, a two-tier Health System. I was speaking to a woman just this week who had to find £15,000 to pay for a new hip. She had to borrow that money from her own children. It’s an absolute disgrace.’

Mr Sarwar asked Mr Swinney if he knew how many people were on a two-year waiting list for treatments and outpatient appointments.

When the SNP leader claimed not to know, Mr Sarwar said: ‘How many people in Scotland are waiting more than two years? Five thousand.

‘In England, 10 times the size, it’s 300. You’ve been in power for 20 years, take some responsibility for once. Why should they give you one more minute when that’s your record?’

Polls suggest the SNP is comfortably ahead of its rivals, with one analysis at the weekend forecasting an outright majority.

Mr Swinney said if that happened it would be a mandate for a second independence referendum which could take place in 2028.

Only Mr Findlay was emphatically opposed to another referendum.

Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord said 60 per cent public support might justify one, Anas Sarwar said he was opposed but conceded Scotland might choose independence one day, while Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton claimed not to think about it.

The First Minister was also accused of trading in ‘the basest politics of hostility’ towards the UK after accusing Labour ministers of ‘anti-Scottish’ behaviour.

He suggested the UK Government of had blocked a £1.5billion investment in turbine making by the Chinese firm Ming Yang near Inverness out of spite.

He said: ‘It is welcoming Chinese investment into Hinkley power station south of the border. If that’s not an anti-Scottish move by a Labour Government, I don’t know what is.’

Pressed by Mr Sarwar, he then repeatedly refused to rule out ignoring security service warnings if he was in charge.

Mr Sarwar said: ‘Are you honestly saying that, as First Minister of Scotland, you would ignore a national security briefing that says there’s a national security challenge coming from investment from China?’

Mr Swinney said: ‘Why is investment allowed at Hinkley power station and not Scotland?’

Briefing the media after the debate, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, co-chair of the Scottish Labour campaign, said: ‘It’s important that governments recognise this is a dangerous and challenging world.

‘Instead, we heard an answer from John Swinney that seemed to suggest that politics was the motivation behind national security when the defence of the realm was the first responsibility of the UK Government.

‘It’s for John Swinney to justify why he chose to trade in the basest politics of hostility towards our friends and neighbours in the United Kingdom this evening. But I think Scotland deserves a better.’

The 90-minute debate also saw Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer brand Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord ‘an absolute chancer’.

In a clash over immigration, which is not under Holyrood control, he added: ‘This is a failed Tory minister who gave the Tory Party £200,000 and then they gave him a seat in the House of Lords and ministerial office - I’m sure that was totally coincidental.’

Lord Offord said he was in favour of immigration for those coming to work, but not those ‘jumping the queues’ for public services ‘to the detriment of local people’.

He said: ‘That is not Scottish and it’s not fair. It’s certainly not racist, but it’s not fair.’

After the debate, Mr Alexander said: ‘We saw in John Swinney a complacent and edgy and arrogant performance.

‘Truthfully, we needed a win this evening and we got a win this evening.’

SNP campaign manager Angus Robertson rejected assertions the First Minister was taking voters for granted.

‘We go into every election campaign asking for the support of the public and, as we know now because of repeated polling, the SNP is in a very strong position,’ he said.

‘But we’re trying to win a majority in this election campaign, so we still have work to do.’

Scottish Tory Craig Hoy said it was clear that Lord Offord had ‘left open the door’ to a referendum and only Mr Findlay among the leaders was unambiguously against.

He said: ‘It’s crystal clear that John Swinney has now set out 2028 as the year. That is now a dividing line in this election. We will say absolutely clearly that we will not support another independence referendum in any circumstances. 

'There’s complacency now creeping in amongst the other parties. Russell was the only person tonight to set out to the Scottish people - no ifs, no buts, there’ll be no independence referendum coming under the Scottish Conservatives.’