Stephen Flynn makes bold Scottish Greens declaration and opens up on SNP's 'self-inflicted wounds'

Speaking on the opening day of the SNP conference in Edinburgh, Mr Flynn also claimed the party would have fared worse in the general election if the coalition with the Greens had not ended.

Former first minister Humza Yousaf ended the power-sharing deal earlier this year over fears that Green members were set to scrap the agreement themselves.

The decision set off a chain of events which resulted in Mr Yousaf’s resignation. But Mr Flynn, who had long made clear his discomfort with the deal, said had it still been in place on July 4, the SNP’s election drubbing would have been worse.

“It wasn’t working,” he told Holyrood magazine. “I think if we’d still been in coalition with the Greens, there wouldn’t be nine SNP MPs.” Asked to clarify, Mr Flynn said: “It would be less.”

The first day of the SNP conference opened with a two-and-a-half-hour private session being led by First Minister John Swinney.

During the session, which was closed to media, opinion poll and data analysis was due to be presented to SNP members, along with the results of a survey of 15,000 members carried out by the party.

The analysis had been driven by a series of “feedback” meetings run at local SNP branches over the summer, in events chaired by the likes of deputy leader Keith Brown and Justice Secretary and SNP chairwoman Angela Constance.

Mr Flynn said of the session: “It was really positive because it allowed the membership to engage directly with the party leadership about the challenges that we’ve faced. That’s something which is difficult for any political party to do.

“John [Swinney] has taken the very serious and right decision to do that with the members at the earliest possible opportunity.

“We went through a whole host of different topics, much of them reflecting upon the fact we have lost the trust we had with the Scottish people, and that’s why we lost the election.

“Now we have to acknowledge the fact we’ve had that discussion, refocus our priorities and make sure we’re fighting fit for the Scottish Parliament election in 2026.”

With the SNP the subject of an ongoing police investigation into its finances, Mr Flynn said some issues “have engulfed the SNP in recent times, which undoubtedly put the public off” voting for it.

“Our priorities perhaps haven’t been aligned with the Scottish people and our delivery hasn’t been as they would expect it to be,” he said.

“We’ve had many self-inflicted wounds and we need to change that. We need to stop talking about ourselves and start talking about the public.”

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes separately told The Scotsman the SNP needed to "change tack" and listen to the public after an "extremely difficult" general election result.

Speaking exclusively on The Scotsman’s political podcast The Steamie, Ms Forbes said her party must restore trust and inspire confidence, while investing in priority areas.

She said Mr Swinney had led a "programme of listening to our members" over the summer to "learn the lessons" of the election.

"If you couple our extremely difficult election result – extremely difficult election result – with that survey, that says we need to change tack, and we need to listen, and we need to make sure that our priorities reflect the public's priorities,” she said.

On independence, Ms Forbes said: "The ballot box is always true to the wishes of the public, and there's no value in ignoring that, dismissing it or suggesting it was wrong in some way."

She said Mr Swinney had been very clear the SNP needs to "listen and take away what people were telling us about priorities and about independence".

Meanwhile, the SNP's deputy leader insisted the people of Scotland must take the issue of independence out of the hands of Westminster.

Keith Brown said support for the SNP at the next Holyrood election meant backing a “convention of all democratically elected representatives – in the Scottish Parliament, at Westminster, in our councils – who support Scotland’s right to choose”.

This would see the SNP working alongside Alex Salmond and his Alba Party should they win seats in Holyrood. Mr Salmond’s party already has one MSP following the defection of Ash Regan from the SNP.

In his address to members, Mr Brown said the ability to demonstrate how Scotland can achieve independence will be “central” to the SNP’s success in 2026.

“We have to first of all acknowledge Westminster’s stance – they’ve been clear,” he said. “Neither Labour, nor Tory, will – in their words – ‘allow’ the people of Scotland to choose their own future. Let’s take them at their word – we have to do that – but let’s also take that decision out of their hands.

“What is a higher power that exists, a higher power than Westminster, a higher power that stands supreme over the UK Supreme Court? The answer is simple – it’s the people of Scotland, the sovereign people of Scotland.”

Alba Party general secretary Chris McEleny welcomed the speech from Mr Brown, adding that if the SNP were “serious”, they would “start this immediately by including Ash Regan and Alba Party’s priorities in their programme for government”, due next week.