SNP MP admits colleagues needed ‘picking off the floor’ over Mhairi Black departure but calls for ‘focus’ on general election

David Linden warned those upset over the deputy leader standing down there was “no time to lick wounds”.

David Linden has admitted some SNP colleagues needed “picking up off the floor” after Mhairi Black announced she’d be standing down at the next election.

Ms Black revealed her decision on Tuesday, citing Westminster as a “toxic environment” and “one of the most unhealthy workplaces that you could ever be in”.

It follows a difficult few days for the SNP group, with Stephen Flynn suspending the whip from SNP MP Angus MacNeil for a week after a furious row with his chief whip in a very public rift.

Mr Linden, the SNP Social Justice spokesman, said he was “gutted” over Ms Black standing down, but warned his fellow MPs with a general election expected next year, there was no time “for licking our wounds”.

He told Scotland on Sunday: “One of the points I have been trying to make to colleagues this week, having known for a wee while now that Mhairi was standing down, a large part of what I’ve been doing this week is to almost pick them off the floor.

"I think some of my colleagues might not be quite as quite as cognizant as how challenging she was finding things.

"“We’ve had to pick some folk up off the floor this week, so there’s been lots of hugs and tears, no doubt."

With Ian Blackford also standing down, along with Peter Grant, Angela Crawley, Douglas Chapman and Stewart Hosie, the Glasgow East MP admitted they were losing talented MPs.He said: “I think part of the problem with losing colleagues, whether Mhairi from the young end of the spectrum, or Ian, who has been around for an awful long time and has a lot of experience, is you are losing a lot of that institutional memory and talent.

“There are still a lot of bright young things in the SNP, whether its Anum Qaisar, Amy Callaghan or even Steven himself, though don’t tell him I said that.

“There are still a lot of talented colleagues that are going to continue running with that baton, and they need to understand we still have a job to do.

"There’s no time for us to stop and be licking our wounds that some of our colleagues are not going to be continuing this next part of the journey with us.”

Ms Black won her seat with 23,548 votes in 2015 while she was still a student at Glasgow University, but cited being “tired” as one of her reasons for standing down.

Mr Linden explained the nature of parliament could be overbearing, and backed her description of it as “toxic”, adding it was so much worse for women.

He said: “I work just along the corridor from her in Westminster, but in many respects it didn’t come as a surprise to me because I know she has been struggling with the atmosphere of Westminster for some time.

"You have to appreciate she went there when she was 20-years-old, and I remember there was this huge fanfare at the time, she was having to walk through the airport with a hat and her hood up because everyone wanted selfies with her.

"I know that might sound like a novelty, for the first couple of days, but the reality for Mhairi has been pretty relentless.

“I am very aware of my male privilege here, the abuse Mhairi gets, by virtue of being a female politician is particularly worse than what I get or what Stephen gets.

"All though I’m pretty gutted, I don’t think I can begrudge her the opportunity to go and have a bit of a normal life.”

In a relationship with the Labour MP Cat Smith, Mr Linden cited the difference in their correspondence to highlight how awful parliament could be for women.

He explained: “I think it's particularly difficult for women. My other half is a female MP, we have a morning and we’re sitting drinking our tea both looking at emails, and I don’t get rape threats to my email account.“The reality is, for female MPs, they become almost desensitised to it to an extent, the stuff my partner and Mhairi get, I think there is just an expiry date on how long you can take that.”The chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty suggested part of the problem was how parliament worked, with votes and systems not “conducive to a good family friendly parliament”.

He said: “My colleagues in the Scottish parliament, they’ll be voting at 5 o’clock, and then they go home to put their kids to bed. That’s a luxury I’ve not got as a young dad.

“There is an element of this where we need to look at whether the place is set up to reflect the 21st century, I’d argue it’s not.

“Every work place has jobs that are a bit of a grind, but needlessly in Westminster, we can probably do things slightly differently, but I think Mhairi has got to the stage after a decade in politics where she’s just sick of Westminster, and I don’t blame her.

On Mr MacNeil, who had accused the chief whip Brendan O’Hara of bullying, losing the whip, Mr Linden insisted his focus was elsewhere.

He said: “The important thing is that Angus has accepted that, and my concern the moment is that we have a general election campaign, it’s up to Angus to go through the process he has to at the moment.

“My focus really isn’t on the internal politics of the SNP group.”

Western Isles MP MacNeil, who is an outspoken critic of both Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, will now sit as an independent until the end of the sanction.

Mr Linden also offered a fiery riposte ahead of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, following the suspension of Margaret Ferrier for breaking Covid rules.

Now sitting as an independent, Ms Ferrier put people at risk after taking part in a debate and travelling by train while suffering from Covid-19.

While her seat is now a key target for Scottish Labour, Mr Linden insisted the result was not a foregone conclusion.

He said: “I am pretty close to the whole Margaret Ferrier situation by virtue of being the MP who had to go on Question Time an hour after the story broke, which was not particularly pleasant.

"The scale of the anger to Margaret’s behaviour is well documented, and I think most folk would accept that is a very difficult by-election in which to defend in.

"I was here at the weekend with the First Minister and there is a genuine sense that there is something to play for.”

Labelling Sir Keir Starmer leader of the “pro-Brexit Labour party”, the SNP MP also insisted membership of the EU remained a key issue for voters.

He added: “We are an anti-Brexit party, and it is a lively issue on the doorsteps, and one we see an opportunity with.”