SNP offered single place on Scottish Affairs Committee after election drubbing
The SNP has been offered a single place on the Scottish Affairs Committee at the House of Commons after its election drubbing.
The Nationalists were reduced to just nine MPs in July having previously been the largest party at Westminster in terms of Scottish seats.
That decline means the SNP has went from three members on the Scottish Affairs Committee to just one. Under Commons rules, committee places are awarded to parties based on their number of MPs.
It comes after several Nationalist figures - including a Scottish Government minister - posted on social media to complain the party was being offered no seats at all.
The mix-up occurred when the UK Parliament initially announced the committee's membership without mentioning an SNP MP. The list included a vacant place.
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The SNP had already been offered the place by other parties but Flynn's position on the committee had not been confirmed.
A Scottish Labour source at Westminster said it was "nonsense" that the SNP wasn't offered a seat: "Labour actively didn’t fill all our slots, so the SNP could have a seat.
"The SNP then didn’t bother to submit a name in time, despite being chased. This is on top of not submitting anything for Scottish Questions in Parliament tomorrow.
"After losing so badly in July, it’s clear the few remaining SNP MPs have little interest in actually doing their jobs.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "It speaks volumes about the broken Westminster system, that the SNP was not afforded an automatic place on the Scottish Affairs Committee despite being Scotland's party of government, and winning more votes and seats in Scotland than other parties who have been given multiple places.
"The Scottish Affairs committee exists to hold the UK government to account on areas of its work that impact Scotland. Following the original allocation of seats, the SNP has now been offered one committee place, which we will use to stand up for Scotland's interests at Westminster."
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