SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn reveals timeline for Scottish Parliament election bid decision

Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, did not rule out running for the party leadership in future

The SNP's Westminster leader has said he is still weighing up whether to run for Holyrood in 2026 and will make a decision next year.

Stephen Flynn also did not rule out a future bid for the party leadership, but insisted it was not something he had "actively considered". Mr Flynn is one of only nine SNP MPs following the party's disastrous general election result in July. 

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Stephen FlynnStephen Flynn
Stephen Flynn | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Under existing party rules, he would have to resign his Commons seat to run for the Scottish Parliament. However, First Minister John Swinney previously said the party was free to rethink this.

The rule was introduced in 2020 and was widely seen as an attempt to block Joanna Cherry, the former SNP MP who was a sharp critic of Nicola Sturgeon's leadership, from running for Holyrood.

Asked if he planned to stand for Holyrood at the 2026 election, Mr Flynn told the Scottish Parliamentary Journalists' Association: "I'll think about it next year and I'll make a decision probably next year. It's not often that you win elections. It's not often that you get re-elected.

"I'm very fortunate in that regard to have done so in Aberdeen South - the first SNP rep to ever be re-elected in Aberdeen South.

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"I've got a job to do for those folk. That's my priority just now. It will be my priority for the next few months, and obviously into next year I'll make a decision. But it's not something I can provide any update on."

Mr Flynn added: "I've just not made up my mind. It's not something that's been at the forefront of my thought process. I've been fully focused on the general election campaign. 

"I have a very young family who I need to consider. I've got my constituents who I've got a responsibility to. When you start adding all those things together, I think it's important in politics that you take your time and you make a reasoned judgement that you think benefits everyone.”

Asked if he wanted to be party leader, Mr Flynn said: "It's just not something that I've put a great deal of thought into."

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He added: "The party's had numerous elections now for leaders in the last few years. If I'd been mad keen for it, I would have put my head above the parapet, but I didn't because I thought that others were better placed.

"And just as when I'm considering whether I want to run for Holyrood or not, if a time ever came for a vacancy at the top of the party, I would put the same kind of thought in. But it's not something that I've actively considered."

Elsewhere, he dismissed the idea of repeating the sort of “stunts” the SNP has previously deployed to make points in Westminster. In 2018, SNP MPs walked out of Prime Minister’s Questions in protest at a Brexit “power grab”.

Mr Flynn said: "I'm not really one for stunts, and I think in order to have a bit of credibility with the public, particularly when you're dealing with serious issues, you need to act in a serious fashion, and it's very difficult to get your view across in a room if you're choosing to walk out of it. And ultimately there's a finite number of times you can throw a hissy fit and walk out of a room.

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"Others have done it in the past to great effect. But they've done it once. It's not something you do twice or three times. So we'll focus on using any means that we can within the rules, and perhaps bending rules at certain points."

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