Talk about going down to the wire. With today’s deadline fast approaching, the SNP Westminster group has made, at the eleventh hour, a significant announcement: they have finally submitted their audited accounts. Had the group been unable to do so, they would have missed out on £1.2 million of public funds, so-called ‘Short money’, making it a little more difficult for them to carry out parliamentary work.
Now, at least one SNP crisis has been averted and the Westminster group’s treasurer, Peter Grant MP, couldn’t sound more relieved:
I’m pleased to confirm that the annual return for the SNP Westminster Group’s ‘Short money’ for 2022/23 has received a clean audit certificate and has been submitted, on time, to the parliamentary authorities. Throughout this process, SNP MPs have remained focused on standing up for Scotland and supporting our hard-working staff. We will continue to hold the Tories and pro-Brexit Labour to account for the damage their policies are inflicting on Scotland.
Mr S knows it’s been far from an easy ride for Stephen Flynn and his merry men (and women). When Flynn ousted former leader Ian Blackford from his role in December, he had no idea that the party’s usual auditors had resigned months earlier. When the news emerged, the SNP were sent scrambling for a replacement, cold calling almost every firm in the country. With less than a month to spare the nationalists eventually located new accountants, a small Manchester-based firm called AMS Accountants Group — who filed their own confirmation statement almost a month late and specialise in assisting, er, dental professionals. ‘Scraping’ and ‘barrel’ come to mind…?
One SNP source congratulated First Minister Humza Yousaf and his Westminster leader Flynn for getting ‘the job done’. Though perhaps it’s not so surprising. Where money’s at stake, the SNP will do all they can to avoid missing out…
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