Exclusive:Stephen Flynn says SNP must 're-inspire' voters ahead of UK general election as he revealed party will target northern seats, including Douglas Ross constituency

The SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, also accused Labour of not knowing what they believe

Stephen Flynn has revealed the SNP will target Scotland's northern seats, particularly Douglas Ross's constituency, at the looming general election, as he stressed his party must learn how to "re-inspire" voters again to turn their fortunes around.

The group's Westminster leader said the SNP must unveil "big policy pitches" to steal a march on the "threat" posed by Labour, claiming under Humza Yousaf they could win back voters in areas such as energy on the back of Sir Keir Starmer’s U-turns.

Speaking exclusively to The Scotsman, Mr Flynn questioned what the Labour party actually believed in, while also admitting the SNP must be realistic about the “threat” the opposition party posed.

SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn. Picture: John Devlin

His comments, made before Labour confirmed on Thursday it was ditching a key pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green projects, come as Sir Keir insisted Labour was being “straight” with voters.

Mr Flynn, the MP for Aberdeen South, admitted the SNP had suffered “challenges, but pointed to strong polling in support of independence, suggesting that stressing the values of his colleagues could help not just maintain seats, but make gains.

Recent polling has seen the SNP’s lead gradually shrink, with Ipsos’s Scottish Political Monitor published earlier this week indicating the lead enjoyed by Humza Yousaf’s party over Scottish Labour was down to just seven points in Westminster voting intention.

Other surveys, such as one carried out by Survation earlier this month, went as far as projecting the SNP and Labour will would the same number of seats at the next general election.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn called for his party to "reinspire" voters.

Asked about the polling, which has shown a gradual collapse in vote since Mr Yousaf succeeded Nicola Sturgeon to became SNP leader, Mr Flynn insisted his party could turn things around.

He said: “I don’t think anyone who has been paying attention to politics for the last 12 months would be unaware of the challenges that the SNP has faced, some of which has been of our own making, some of which probably hasn't. There was always going to be a knock-on impact from that in relation to the polling.

“We know we are there or thereabouts in terms of still being in the lead. But we also know that 50 per cent of Scots still want Scotland to be an independent country. We need to re-inspire those folk to stick with the Scottish National Party and ensure that when we get onto that battleground of the big ideas, we have a message that the public can buy into.”

Asked about potential seat losses, Mr Flynn insisted his party could make gains as he revealed which opposition seats the SNP would be targeting.

He said: “I want us to retain every seat we have and I want us to be in a position where we can seek to gain seats. Obviously the boundary changes have changed the name of it, but the seat that Douglas Ross holds would be one we are seeking to target.

Further north, [there is Lib Dem MP] Jamie Stone’s [Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross] seat. There are seats right across Scotland. We don’t want to just hold, we want to be in a position to gain seats as well.

“Is that going to be a challenge? Of course, but that’s the nature of elections. But you have to have confidence in your message, your ideas and what it is you stand for and take it to the public.”

Mr Flynn suggested his party could do this by stressing its own “values”, and offering a policy platform rival parties could not compete with.

He said: “We know that in chunks of Scotland it's all to play for and the party has to be in a position to respond to that and to be confident about the message that we're taking to the public, and to give the public confidence in voting for us.

“For me the general election is very much going to be that battle of ideas on the biggest policy, areas of today. So the cost-of-living crisis, the economy, migration, the NHS, Brexit and the constitution.

"Obviously there’ll be many more things that feed into that, but when it comes to those big policy areas, I think we have an offering which is unlike anything that the Labour can offer, unlike anything the Tories can offer, and indeed the Lib Dems. We are unashamed about what we can do that the other parties can’t, which is stand up for Scotland and advance the cause of Scottish independence.”

Discussing Labour, Mr Flynn accused Sir Keir Starmer of “rolling back” on most of his positions. Outside of the reversal of the £28bn green investment, the Labour leader has also been criticised for other policy U-turns, such as back-tracking on his original pledge to scrap the two-child benefit cap introduced under the Conservatives.

Mr Flynn said: “We have to be realistic about the threat posed by Labour and being realistic about what that effect means is you have to move onto the ground to talk about big policy areas.

"I don’t think the Labour party is in the space to want to do that. We’ve seen that with Keir Starmer rolling back or changing his position in relation to most of those big policy pitches. I do not actually know where the Labour party really stands.

“When we are looking at the challenge of Labour, we need to make sure that we’re talking about the big policy areas where Labour are not comfortable. They do not believe in membership of the European Union, they do not believe in membership of the single market. They are in two minds on their energy policy, they apparently no longer believe in abolishing the House of Lords. We can go one by one on these things”.

Asked if the SNP should distance themselves from Ms Sturgeon, the former first minister, following UK Covid Inquiry evidence confirming she had deleted her WhatsApp messages during the pandemic, Mr Flynn instead discussed what the SNP offer should be to voters.

He said: “I think when it comes to what we stand for we need to be clear about the fact we will always unashamedly stand up for Scotland at Westminster and advance the cause of Scottish independence.

"But there is much more to us than that. When we are talking about energy policy, we believe that you need to double down on investment and net zero. When it comes to migration, we believe it is good, that it benefits businesses, our public sector and the economy.”

Mr Flynn added: "What I believe we need to do is focus on at a general election is those big ideas, and that’s where I think the public would be very much in tune with what we’re saying."

The Aberdeen South MP also responded to criticism from his predecessor, Ian Blackford, who questioned the decision of SNP colleagues to keep comparing Labour to the Tories, insisting the two rival political parties were “absolutely” not the same.

Mr Flynn said: “It’s not a case of lobbing the Labour party into the same mix as the Conservatives, it’s about highlighting the fact that Westminster and Westminster politicians don’t work for Scotland. That’s where we can be distinct with our message”.

There was also praise for the First Minister, following SNP Westminster deputy leader Mhairi Black’s claims that Mr Yousaf had inherited a “poisoned chalice”.

Mr Flynn said: “I think Humza has done a phenomenal job dealing with the challenges he has had to face at certain points, and those challenges have been many.

"He’s also had to deal with the personal situation with his family in Gaza, and it takes a real statesman to focus on the priorities of the people of Scotland when you are dealing with personal circumstances in the way Humza has had to. I think it’s a marker of the man.”