STEPHEN Flynn has defended the SNP ruling body’s proposal to cut the number of staff at headquarters to save funds.
The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) met on Saturday to agree to consult on the proposal to “streamline” staffing, and a voluntary redundancy scheme was opened.
The SNP’s defeat in July’s General Election means they have lost out on a bulk of its so-called “short money”, which is provided to Westminster opposition parties to allow them to carry out their parliamentary duties.
Asked about the redundancies on the BBC’s Sunday Show, Flynn said it was a “tough but necessary decision … to make sure that the party's in the best condition possible going into the 2026 elections”.
The SNP Westminster leader went on: "Obviously, earlier this year, I had to go through a very similar process with SNP staff down in London. It's an incredibly tough and challenging experience to go through. My thoughts are all very much with all of the HQ staff, who I know very well, who will be having a very troubled weekend.
"And I think when we're having the wider discussion in relation to this, we need to be mindful of the fact that there are people behind these numbers, people with friends and families and responsibilities.
"And hopefully this can all be done in a way which is hopefully as swift as possible to ensure that we get in a position where the party is able to fight the election, but hopefully meet the needs of those people."
The SNP has struggled for substantial donations in recent years, relying instead on membership fees owing to its status as Scotland’s biggest party.
This year, 81% of the party’s funding came from membership fees, compared to 35% in 2015.
Elsewhere on the BBC Sunday Show, Flynn said criticism of Health Secretary Neil Gray over using a ministerial car to attend football games was “not a scandal”.
Gray, whose portfolio includes sport, has been under fire this week after it emerged he had been chauffeured to six football matches at Hampden since becoming a minister, four of which included the team he supports.
He apologised this week in a ministerial statement, conceding he should have gone to a “wider range” of football matches.
“I think when it comes to how ministers partake in their duties, we need to be serious about the fact that our sports minister going to sporting events is not a scandal,” he said on the BBC’s Sunday Show.
“What tends to happen in politics is you tend to create relationships, have discussions with people and that could only happen by being in those places at certain times.
“I would certainly be encourage all of our ministers to get out with the people that they represent, the bodies who of course play a huge role within Scottish society.”
He added: “Neil is a huge sports fan, I think it’s right that he, as sports minister, goes to sporting matches, I’m struggling to see what the scandal is.”
Flynn, a die-hard Dundee United fan, also joked that the real scandal was that the Health Secretary “chose to go to far too many Aberdeen games”, in a jibe at one of his team’s rivals.
But speaking on the same programme, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie (below) said the issue was a scandal.
“Their eye’s are off the ball, no pun intended,” she said.
“You need to think about what your priorities are. When social care is in crisis, why are you going to football games?”
Put to her that Gray’s portfolio also covers sport, Baillie responded: “But (he is) also the health and social care minister, where we have one in six people on waiting lists in Scotland, where 9000 people are waiting for an assessment, these should be priorities.”
Scottish Tory finance spokesperson Craig Hoy said his party had made “the very reasonable ask” of the Scottish Government for minutes of the meetings held at the matches to be published.
