John Swinney has apologised over what appears to be a direct breach of coronavirus regulations while out on the campaign trail.
The Deputy First Minister deleted a picture he posted on Twitter of himself and four other party activists after they met up while out leafleting for the May election.
Candidates for the Holyrood poll have been told they must follow the same rules as the rest of the nation, with four people from two households allowed to meet up outdoors.
The snap, uploaded online around 3pm on Friday March 26 was captioned: "Delighted to get out on the SNP campaign trail today."However, soon after being contacted by The Courier, who broke the news, the picture was deleted.Swinney said: "A small number of my supporters were.