STEPHEN Flynn has openly mocked the Westminster system after a four-month probe into alleged misuse of parliamentary stationery saw the complaint dismissed without action.
The SNP Westminster leader was the focus of a standards probe after a PR stunt which saw his team hand out mugs stuffed with official parliament compliments slips criticising Labour.
It came amid a row over Keir Starmer’s refusal to commit to repealing the two-child benefit cap should he come to power after the next General Election.
The policy had previously been compared with China’s one child policy by deputy Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie.
The SNP played on this and in July handed out mugs in the Westminster press gallery which read: “Controls on family sizes. What’s the point of Labour?”
In August, Flynn was placed under investigation for the misuse of stationery equipment by a House of Commons watchdog.
On the final day of November, the case against Flynn was dismissed by the Standards Committee, which said the incident did not involve any “issues of great moment” and said further action would not be “proportionate”.
Reacting to the news, the SNP MP took to social media to mock the whole process.
Alongside a picture of himself on his laptop with one of the offending mugs on the table, Flynn wrote: “Just finished reading the conclusion of a four-month long Westminster investigation into my use of 28 pence worth of stationery.
“The outcome? No action.
“Can’t be the only person wondering why this place didn’t apply the same scrutiny to PPE contracts.”
Earlier in November, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was asked to “confirm that the Government has also had to write off over £8.7 billion from pandemic PPE contracts?”
Hunt replied: “We have no quarter with any incidents of fraud and we have commenced 51 criminal investigations into suspected fraud and there have been a total of 80 arrests so far.”
PPE Medpro, a firm linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone, is currently the focus of a National Crime Agency probe and is being sued by the UK Government for £122 million.
The Government is alleging that sterile gowns provided under one contract were not fit for use in the NHS. The firm denies this.
