STEPHEN Flynn told the Prime Minister to “grow up” after he made a jibe about SNP MSPs sending flowers to Nicola Sturgeon after her arrest.
The SNP’s Westminster leader grilled Rishi Sunak over rocketing mortgage prices – with the average fixed-rate mortgage close to 6%.
But his question was met with derision from the Prime Minister who asked if Flynn would “sign the card” when flowers are sent to the former first minister.
SNP MSPs decided on Tuesday at a group meeting in the Scottish Parliament they would send a bouquet to Sturgeon as a goodwill gesture after her arrest on Sunday.
She was released without charged after hours of questioning by police as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into the SNP's finances.
Flynn pulled the Prime Minister up on comments made during the leadership contest against Liz Truss last year, in which he warned rising mortgage rates would guarantee the Tories losing the next General Election .
Stephen Flynn (@StephenFlynnSNP) told the Prime Minister to 'grow up' at today's PMQs 👀 pic.twitter.com/eesFfD04sb
— The National (@ScotNational) June 14, 2023
He said: “During his ill-fated leadership bid late last summer, the Prime Minister warned of the perils of mortgage rate rises. Indeed he stated, and I quote: ‘It’s going to tip millions of people into misery and it’s going to mean we have absolutely no chance of winning the next election.’
“Given that mortgage rates continue to rise, does he still agree with his own electoral analysis?”
Sunak replied: “Which is absolutely why our economic policy sets as our number one priority to reduce inflation and thereby bring interest rates [down], which by the way, have also risen in pretty much every developed economy around the world – more so in places like America and New Zealand, similar in other countries as well, like Australia.
“But it is important that in order to reduce inflation that you do need to have control over borrowing, which is why we, unlike the party opposite, are disciplined with regard to the public finances.
“But these are the issues, these are the issues that we should be focused on. I saw that the SNP yesterday had a meeting to discuss their future but the only thing that they managed to decide was that they should send Nicola Sturgeon some flowers.
“So can he tell us, did he sign the card?”
Flynn told the Prime Minister to “grow up” and said he should apologise for the “cycle of misery that Westminster has caused”.
He said: “Respectfully, I think the Prime Minister needs to grow up. There is an elephant in this here chamber when it comes to the dire economic circumstances facing the UK and that’s Brexit. The Tory benches don’t want to accept it and the Labour Party, they don’t want to talk about it.
“But whether it’s food prices, energy prices, or indeed mortgage prices, households in Scotland are being shafted by Brexit. So can I ask the Prime Minister, will he apologise for the cycle of misery that Westminster has caused?”
Sunak replied: “While his party leader calls Nicola Sturgeon the most impressive politician in Europe, we are getting on delivering for the people of Scotland, paying half of their energy bills, making sure that pensions rise, making sure that there’s direct support for those who need it with the cost of living and crucially, ensuring that we secure over 200,000 jobs by supporting Scotland’s North Sea oil and gas industry – something opposed by his party.”
