Stephen Flynn: It’s without question that the SNP lost the trust of the public

One month has passed since the seismic general election which not only saw Labour remove the Conservatives from power, but also squarely defeat the Scottish National Party north of the border, when I meet Stephen Flynn at a central Aberdeen coffee shop. And what a month it’s been.

The first Labour-written King’s Speech in over a decade. A raft of early bills as the new government sets out to prove it means business. A row over the two-child benefit cap resulting in the prime minister suspending seven of his own just-elected MPs for backing an opposition amendment (more on that later). And a series of riots and violent protests in England and Northern Ireland sparked by the killing of three young girls in Southport and online misinformation about their deaths.

At the time we meet, those riots are tailing off but police across the UK remain on high alert. Aberdeen is being carefully monitored, pegged as one possible location for potential disorder. Ultimately no such incidents arise in Scotland, but Flynn says watching the scenes down south has been “terrifying”.

We need to have a proper reflection upon what we say and do in Westminster, and how that then breeds in the minds of those fascists and racists

“Anyone who is not worried about that is not paying attention, particularly given the rhetoric which is coming from those people involved, and I don’t think we should be in a position of trying to legitimise anything that they say or do.

“These are thugs, these are fascists, these are Islamophobes, these are racists who are trying to stoke division and fear in society for their own horrific political ends. And I think as a society we need to come together and unite against that, being very bold and forthright.”

He praises Keir Starmer for his response to the rioting, highlighting the rapid and “forceful” sentencing of those involved. But he also wants the prime minister and politicians of all hues to reflect carefully on how it is the country arrived at a situation which allowed for racist violence to take place.

“There needs to be that wider discussion about the language which is used by politicians within the House of Commons,” Flynn says. “As politicians, we need to have a proper reflection upon what we say and do in Westminster, and how that then breeds in the minds of those fascists and racists.”

He uses a speech made by Sarah Edwards, MP for Tamworth, in July as an example. Edwards, welcoming a government commitment to end hotel use for housing asylum seekers, spoke about a Holiday Inn in her constituency being used for that purpose and told colleagues that “residents want their hotel back”. That same hotel was targeted by rioters fewer than three weeks later.

Flynn is careful to add that the speech was not the cause of the attack, but he argues MPs shouldn’t be speaking about asylum seekers in those terms. “These are some of the most vulnerable people in society, we should be doing things to protect them – and that doesn’t involve saying we need people out of hotels.”

For many people across the country, the recent riots felt like the culmination of years of increasing tension. I ask if Flynn, as a public figure, has been worried about his own safety throughout it all, but he says recent events haven’t caused him any more concern, “because my level of concern is probably quite high in any case, to be honest”.

He reveals he’s received various warnings about his safety and security over the years, and during the general election campaign was offered additional protection. “There was talk of me having essentially what would amount to a bodyguard during the general election campaign if I wanted. I didn’t take them up on that offer because I didn’t feel it was necessary.

“But we are, of course, living in a world where not too long ago David Amess was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery, Jo Cox was killed in the street by a far-right extremist. We who happen to appear on the telly a little bit more and have slightly bigger profiles are obviously very cautious of that, and it’s hard not to be because your family are constantly reminding you of it.”

But, broadly speaking, he says he tends to get little more than “choice words” thrown at him from political rivals and feels “very much at home and comfortable” here in Aberdeen South, the constituency he has represented since his election in 2019.

In July, Flynn held onto the seat but with a much-reduced share of the vote. Most of his (now former) colleagues weren’t so lucky. “We got gubbed,” he accepts. “Yes, in the historical context it was our fourth or fifth best ever SNP result in Westminster, but it’s definitely one of our biggest losses too.”

It’s without question that the SNP lost the trust of the public

Opinion within the SNP has varied as to why it suffered so heavily. Some have argued the result was simply a result of voters wanting to remove the Tories from power, while others have blamed the current and former leadership. What does he think?

“The thing that matters most in politics is trust. Trust in individual politicians, trust in their ability to deliver, trust in their values and what it is that they believe in. And when the public look at politicians and political parties, they want to see themselves looking back. I think it’s without question that the SNP lost the trust of the public.

“Now, is that just on our ability to deliver? Is it with regard to some of the things that have happened to the party? Some of the things party members have done? Is it one of those things? All of those things?

“I think it’s probably a bit of all, and I feel from the discussions that have been had within the party in recent weeks, certainly people that have spoken to me, there is that common understanding that we need to regain that trust, and there’s a short timeframe within which to do that with the Scottish parliamentary elections [taking place in May 2026]. That’s a challenge that we have to be willing to rise to and renew and rebuild.

“In that context we’ve got the best person to allow us to do that in John Swinney. I was, like many others, very keen for John to become the leader when Humza [Yousaf] stepped aside. And with his feet now firmly under the table – without having to march across Scotland in an election campaign he didn’t anticipate would be taking place so soon into his tenure – I think John has all the right ingredients to turn things around. And it’s up to myself and others to now rise to the challenge of supporting him in what it is that he wants to do to rebuild within the party, but more importantly, to rebuild trust with the public.”

Before the election was called, Swinney had just started the job of trying to steer his party into less turbulent waters. His short-lived predecessor, Yousaf, had ended the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens, which provided the new FM with a clean slate. And so Swinney had spent the early weeks of his premiership talking up his four big objectives as a minority government: eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, moving to net zero, and improving public services.

Notably absent from that list is Scottish independence. The topic was also largely missing from the election – despite the party having to put it page one, line one of the manifesto due to a prior conference commitment, independence was barely mentioned in the campaign. That, of course, does not mean the party is rolling back on its raison d’etre, but rather is a recognition that talking about the constitution is not where most Scots are, 10 years on from the referendum.

For Flynn, the election result spoke to a need for the party to have a “clear, honest, reflective discussion” about where things stand on that front. “The public took [independence] immediately off the table in the general election, and I think it would be unreasonable and foolish for any politician or aspiring politician to suggest otherwise,” he says.

He goes back to his point about needing to rebuild trust with the public, arguing it’s a necessity because the SNP “ultimately remains the best and the only vehicle through which Scotland can achieve” independence. “You need to win elections in order to get to that point, you need the public to believe in you as a party and to have trust in you to deliver for them. And that’s obviously not been there in recent times, which is why we had the election result that we did.”

Does that mean to say that I’m sad that the Bute House Agreement was ended? No, I think it wasn’t working

Flynn now heads up a single-figure group of MPs at Westminster, and he’s lost the privileges that came with being the third largest party – such as a weekly question at PMQs. He admits that means he’ll have to work a little bit harder to ensure the SNP’s voice is heard. “We’re going to have to be a little bit more agile, a little bit more nimble within parliament to ensure that we can cut through and in that context we’ll be picking our topics and making sure that they align with the objectives of people back home in Scotland,” he explains.

That new way of working got off to a pretty good start, though, with Flynn tabling an amendment to the King’s Speech on the two-child benefit cap which, while ultimately defeated, did succeed in ensuring the issue has stayed at the top of the agenda.

“We managed to garner cross-party support on the child benefit cap, which surprised a lot of folks. I think they were thinking, well, the SNP are down to a group of nine, they’ll not be heard in Westminster, but I think we proved that wrong very quickly and very effectively and we did that by standing up for something that we believe in but also working cross-party,” Flynn says.

He says the environment in parliament felt “massively different” in the first few weeks of the new government compared to the last, not just because of his own party’s reduced numbers. I wonder if having a Labour government makes his job a bit easier, given there is plenty both parties agree on. Flynn agrees the change represents an “opportunity”, because “we are a party of the centre-left and I think Keir Starmer strives to be seen as a politician of the centre-left as well”.

There needs to be a little bit more collegiate working and I guess that can only happen and is necessitated by a minority government

A lot has happened in the almost two years since Flynn became the party’s group leader in London (when I say this, he cheekily replies: “Are you talking about cause and effect here?”). Back then the SNP was still riding high in the polls, bolstered by a highly popular leader in Nicola Sturgeon. Fast-forward just a couple of months, Sturgeon resigned, leading to a bruising leadership race from which the party struggled to recover. Polling plummeted further still after Yousaf left office, a decision brought about by his own miscalculation at how the Greens would respond to being kicked out of government.

Flynn’s own role in what happened last spring has been the subject of much rumour. He had met with Yousaf the day before the Bute House Agreement was scrapped, as had special advisor Kevin Pringle. Neither man was known for their love of the Greens and so it was suggested that the pair had teamed up to confront the first minister. Flynn denies such a thing ever happened – in fact he says he was only in Edinburgh that day by chance, as he would normally have been down in London for PMQs but Rishi Sunak had an international summit to attend.

“Anyone who thinks that someone can come into Bute House and tell the first minister what to do isn’t understanding the role, and the importance and respect which we all have for the people who take on such senior roles. It was just speculation that was built up by others,” he says.

Having said that, he’s not unhappy with how it panned out. “Does that mean to say that I’m sad that the Bute House Agreement was ended? No, I think it wasn’t working. I think if we’d still been in coalition with the Greens, there wouldn’t be nine SNP MPs.”

Is he saying he thinks the SNP would have had fewer than nine representatives in the Commons?

“It would be less,” he says. “To be honest, the trust that we were talking about earlier, which is hugely important, had been eroded and the Bute House Agreement was obviously part of that process as well. And again, we can’t and we shouldn’t shy away from that.

“So was I heartbroken that the Greens were no longer in government? No. Do I think that they have the capacity to work constructively and work well with the minority SNP government? Yes, I think they do and I think that they’ll hopefully see it as an opportunity to renew some of their priorities while we renew some of ours.

“And hopefully within Holyrood itself – and this is just an observation based upon what lots of members of the Scottish Parliament say across all parties – there needs to be a little bit more collegiate working and I guess that can only happen and is necessitated by a minority government as well. It may well end up being a good thing not just for my party, but also for Holyrood as an entity.”

As we come to the end of our allotted time, Flynn briefly mentions his family – he’s come into the centre of town today not just for me, but to buy his son his first set of school shoes. His eldest was born just three days after Flynn was elected to Westminster and so having a dad who spends a large amount of his time away from home is the only life he’s ever known. I ask how Flynn finds that balance.

“I’m just very fortunate that I have a partner who’s very supportive and I’ve got a couple of kids who allow me the most important thing in life, which is the ability to switch off from your job and to go up to the park and do jigsaws and play hide and seek and that’s much more important than anything else.

“And as long as they’ve got a smile on their face when I come home, I’m content to keep doing the job that I’m doing, and I wouldn’t be able to do the job without them.”