SNP ‘within touching distance’ of winning Holyrood majority in May, Flynn says

The SNP is “within touching distance” of winning an overall majority at Holyrood, party Westminster leader Stephen Flynn claimed, as he insisted such a victory would give Scotland “a fresh start with independence”.

The SNP MP hit out at the “chaos” that he insisted was the “permanent pattern” of Westminster government.

He contrasted that with the “calm, thoughtful and trusted leadership” that he said Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney delivers.

With Holyrood elections now less than two months away. he insisted that Mr Swinney is “by far and away the best candidate for first minister”.

With Mr Swinney having set the target of the SNP winning an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament on May 7, in a bid to force a second vote on independence, the party’s Westminster leader insisted that could be a “fresh start” for the country.

With polls showing the SNP in the lead in the race for Holyrood, Mr Flynn declared the party to be “within touching distance of the majority that will give our nation a fresh start with independence”.

While he said Scotland was “a wee nation”,  he added the country had “aspirations for something better” that he said were “far bigger than the confines of this union”.

Independence, Mr Flynn claimed, would allow Scotland “back home in the European Union”.

Speaking at the start of the SNP campaign conference in Edinburgh, the MP – who is running for Holyrood in May – told supporters: “When the world is so uncertain – there can never be a better time to create our own future.

“Because I don’t want to live in the relic of Thatcher and Blair’s Britain.

“I don’t want to live in Starmer’s Britain.

“I certainly don’t want to live in Farage’s Britain.

“If we want a different future, if we want change,  then we need to create it for ourselves.”

His comments came in a speech that he used to attack both Labour and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – criticising him for appointing Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US.

Lord Mandelson was sacked from the role as a result of his links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mr Flynn, however, told the conference that the former ambassador was a “known quantity” for the Labour Party.

The SNP Westminster leader said: “Make no mistake, they appointed that man to high office time and again, not because they didn’t know who he was.

“But because they knew exactly who he was.

“They saw his ease with power, wealth, the dark arts not as alarm bells ringing, but as boxes ticked.

“This is a Labour Party scandal to its very core.”

Mr Flynn went on to claim the decision to “eventually cut ties with Mandelson was nothing to do with the victims”, instead claiming it was “all about trying to save Keir Starmer – whose defence is that he is the most gullible former director of public prosecutions in history”.

Blasting the Prime Minister, he added: “To this Prime Minister the victims of Epstein were never a priority, he didn’t even give them a second thought.”

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton claimed Mr Flynn’s speech showed that “the SNP only care about one thing, breaking up the United Kingdom”.

The Tory MSP said: “He was crystal clear, if the SNP get a majority at the next election, they’ll use secret tactics to secure another divisive independence referendum.

“This isn’t a distant threat, the danger is very real. The future of the Union is on the line.

“We blocked an SNP majority in 2016 and 2021, and will always stand up for Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom.”