It’s not just Keir Starmer announcing a reshuffle today — the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has taken it upon himself to rearrange his frontbench. Flynn says that the promotion of women to top positions and improving the representation of other Scottish communities informed his decisions. It’s clear, however, that the Westminster leader’s main consideration is the cost of living crisis.
Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, has taken up the role of economy spokesperson, moving across from the foreign affairs brief. Hendry replaces Stewart Hosie MP, one of the eight SNP Westminster politicians to announce they will not stand at the next general election. Part of the 2015 intake, Hendry has held roles in trade, business and transport.
It’s an important move for the Inverness MP, given Flynn’s plans to shift his party’s campaign priorities from independence to focus on ‘strong and sustained economic growth’. This comes after internal analysis informed the Westminster leader that his party needed to change tack on their current ‘indy first’ approach. This conclusion doesn’t seem to have enamoured everyone in the SNP, and there are concerns north-south divisions on strategy are emerging. Flynn feels ‘Edinburgh is overruling him’, one MP told the Times.
First Minister Humza Yousaf continues to promote independence as being ‘front and centre’ of the party’s campaign after the polls show a growing divide between pro-independence voters and SNP supporters. Questions are being raised about whether this is the best method to reel back in disillusioned voters, particularly after more recent evidence has found that a ‘powerbase’ of young and middle-class SNP voters would rather he prioritise the cost-of-living crisis.
But the ‘independence first’ mindset is one that Flynn can’t avoid in his new frontbench either: Tommy Sheppard, MP for Edinburgh East, has become the party’s Scotland spokesperson, a role he previously held from 2017 to 2020. In recent months, Sheppard has called for a renewed party focus on independence, drawing attention to the SNP’s ‘tired’ activist base and the ‘splintered’ political representation of the movement.
Many of the 2019 SNP intake have also seen promotions. Previously in defence, Angus MP Dave Doogan has become Flynn’s energy spokesperson. Amy Callaghan, MP for East Dunbartonshire, has joined the frontbench for the first time, taking up the role of health spokesperson.
Anum Qaisar, who was elected in the snap election of 2021, has moved from international development to levelling up. Qaisar, MP for Airdire and Shotts, is regarded by some as an SNP ‘establishment’ choice. A former caseworker for Humza Yousaf, she has previously been forced to fend off claims the MP selection process was ‘rigged’ in her favour.
Conspicuously absent from Flynn’s new frontbench is Joanna Cherry MP who was sacked under former Westminster leader Ian Blackford. The well-known politician has come under fire from those in her own party after speaking out against the SNP-endorsed gender reforms in Scotland. Despite citing over the weekend what she has achieved for the party, Cherry has been passed up for promotion. The longstanding MP Pete Wishart — a proponent of Yousaf’s leadership rival Ash Regan’s independence strategy that every election should be a ‘de facto referendum’ — is also absent from the new frontbench. In the past Wishart has spoken out about the decisions of the SNP top brass, including during the recent SNP leadership contest on the release of the party’s membership figures.
The full list of the new SNP Westminster frontbench is here:
• SNP Westminster Leader – Stephen Flynn MP
• SNP Depute Westminster Leader – Mhairi Black MP
• SNP Chief Whip – Owen Thompson MP
• House of Commons Business spokesperson – Deidre Brock MP
• Economy spokesperson – Drew Hendry MP
• Levelling Up spokesperson – Anum Qaisar MP
• Social Justice spokesperson – David Linden MP
• Home Affairs spokesperson – Alison Thewliss MP
• Justice and Immigration spokesperson – Chris Stephens MP
• Attorney General spokesperson – Patricia Gibson MP
• Europe and EU Accession spokesperson – Alyn Smith MP
• Science, Innovation, Technology and Education spokesperson – Carol Monaghan MP
• Scotland spokesperson – Tommy Sheppard MP
• International Development Spokesperson – Anne McLaughlin MP
• Foreign Affairs spokesperson – Brendan O’Hara MP
• Women and Equalities spokesperson – Kirsten Oswald MP
• Environment, Farming, Agriculture and Rural Affairs spokesperson – Steven Bonnar MP
• Cabinet Office spokesperson – Kirsty Blackman MP
• Business and Trade (N Ireland and Wales) spokesperson – Richard Thomson MP
• Health spokesperson – Amy Callaghan MP
• Transport spokesperson – Gavin Newlands MP
• Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson – Dave Doogan MP
• Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson – John Nicolson MP
• Defence spokesperson – Martin Docherty-Hughes MP
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