STEPHEN Flynn has played down the extent of divisions in the SNP following the leadership election.
Humza Yousaf emerged victorious in the contest on Monday, receiving 52.1% of the vote after the second round ahead of Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.
The election was at times branded as bruising for the SNP, with contenders often found questioning each other's competence and policies.
But the party's Westminster leader Flynn said the notion they were divided was not true, particularly over gender reform.
He told BBC Radio 4: “As I understand it from looking at vote transfers yesterday, I think around two-thirds of the membership cast a vote in favour of both Humza and Kate on transfers.
“So this notion that we are eternally divided is not true and certainly not true over the GRR [Gender Recognition Reform] either.
“It was quite clear there’s differences of opinion but the reality is that the Scottish Parliament through Scottish Labour MSPs, LibDem MSPs, some Conservative MSPs, Green MSPs and Scottish National Party MSPs passed legislation, and the UK Government is now seeking to stand in the way of that.
“That’s a democratic blocker of Scotland.”
After Regan was eliminated in the first round, people who voted for her had their second preferences taken into account.
After the second round, Yousaf had 26,032 votes - up from 24,336 in the first round - while Forbes ended with 23,890 up from 20,559.
The final results mean Regan’s supporters backed Forbes by a majority approaching 2:1. However, the roughly one-third that Yousaf managed to convince represented enough support to get him over 50%.
A total of 1696 of Regan’s backers put Yousaf as their second preference while 3331 of them put Forbes second.
Asked if Yousaf should include Forbes in his Cabinet, Flynn said that “if there is the opportunity to do so”, but added he was “not privy” to the conversations.
He praised the former leadership contender as an “unbelievably talented politician”.
