SNP would have lost more MPs if Scottish Greens stayed in government, Stephen Flynn says

The SNP would have suffered an even worse General Election result if the Greens had not been kicked out of the Scottish Government, Stephen Flynn has said.

The SNP Westminster leader said his party would have returned fewer MPs if then-first minister Humza Yousaf did not end the power-sharing agreement with the junior party earlier this year.

Flynn is one of nine SNP MPs to have won a seat on July 4, down from 48 in 2019.

Yousaf sacked Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater in a surprise move in April – something that ultimately led to his resignation.

Flynn said that if the Bute House Agreement had still been in place on July 4 the SNP’s election drubbing would have been worse.

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Stephen Flynn: Scotland has lost trust in the SNP

The SNP Westminster leader told STV News he would consider a future bid to run as an MSP at Holyrood.

He told Holyrood magazine: “It wasn’t working.

“I think if we’d still been in coalition with the Greens, there wouldn’t be nine SNP MPs.”

Asked to clarify, Flynn said: “It would be less.”

The party lost dozens of MPs in July, capping off 18 months of turmoil which has seen three leaders take the helm and a long-running police investigation into financial issues.

As part of the police probe, former chief executive – and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – Peter Murrell has been arrested and charged in connection with the alleged embezzlement of party funds and a report was later sent to the prosecution service.

Flynn spoke as the party met in Edinburgh for its annual conference, with the event kicking off with a behind-closed-doors post-mortem of the election result hosted by leader John Swinney.

A spokesman for the Scottish Greens said: “The Scottish Greens have delivered an emergency rent freeze and protections for tenants across Scotland, free bus travel for young people and record investment to tackle the climate and nature emergencies.

“Which of these changes does Stephen Flynn think weren’t working?

“The Scottish Greens secured our strongest general election result to date while Stephen Flynn led a campaign that saw his party losing 38 MPs.”