Stephen Flynn’s victory in the race to become the new SNP leader at Westminster will not shift the tectonic plates of Scottish politics.
Whoever leads the Nationalists in the Commons cannot deliver independence and none of the party’s 40-plus MPs will enter government. But a fractious group can cause problems for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and act as a lightning rod for criticism of her wider independence strategy.
The new leader’s relationship with Sturgeon was always going to be a dividing line in the contest to succeed Ian Blackford.
