Frontbench Team of Stephen Flynn

Frontbench Team of Stephen Flynn
Fourth Party of the House of Commons
2022–present
Date formed10 December 2022
People and organisations
Group LeaderStephen Flynn
Member party
  •   SNP
Status in legislatureFourth party (from 2024)
9 / 650 (1%)
Third party (2022–2024)
43 / 650 (7%)
History
Outgoing election2019 general election
2024 general election
Legislature terms58th UK Parliament
59th UK Parliament
PredecessorBlackford Frontbench

The Frontbench Team of Stephen Flynn is the team of Scottish National Party Spokespersons in the House of Commons since 2022.[1] The frontbench was first appointed on 10 December 2022.[2]

Flynn was elected leader of the SNP Westminster Group on 6 December 2022, alongside Mhairi Black as deputy leader, following the resignation of Ian Blackford. Flynn's leadership came at a time of a cost of living crisis and when the United Kingdom's Supreme Court set out that the Scottish Parliament does not have the devolved competence to hold an independence referendum without the consent of the British Government. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had set out plans for the next election to the House of Commons to be a proxy referendum on independence, putting the Frontbench Team at the centre of a constitutional campaign within Scotland.

In the 2024 general election, the SNP suffered huge losses losing the vast majority of their seats.[3] As a result, Stephen Flynn unveiled a new much slimmed down frontbench including himself, Pete Wishart as his deputy and Kirsty Blackman as chief whip.[4]

  1. ^ "SNP Westminster leader denies plotting to oust predecessor". BBC News. 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  2. ^ "Stephen Flynn unveils new SNP Westminster frontbench after reshuffle". HeraldScotland. 10 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  3. ^ Meighan, Craig (2024-07-04). "SNP suffers huge losses as Labour sweeps to power across UK". STV News. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).