The SNP’s Westminster group say they’ve snuck in under the wire with their audited accounts ahead of their deadline today, meaning they are now likely to receive the £1.2 million in Short Money to pay staff. Talk about cutting it close. The deadline was midnight tonight…

The group’s last auditors quit back in September following a “review of [their] client portfolio“, although the news wasn’t made public until last month, around the time the party’s treasurer was arrested and police started sniffing around Nicola Sturgeon’s garden. Humza Yousaf and Stephen Flynn say they didn’t know about the financial crisis for months either. 

Now the Westminster group’s treasurer Peter Grant MP has confirmed the annual return “has received a clean audit certificate and has been submitted, on time, to the parliamentary authorities”. Despite the “challenging” deadline, AMS Group Accountants have signed off the SNP’s books. A miracle considering they couldn’t file their own confirmation statement on time… 

SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has admitted he wasn’t told the party’s auditors had quit until nearly three months after he got the job, and conceded the SNP is on the brink of losing £1.2 million in short money in a matter of weeks. In an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, Flynn revealed he was only told about the auditor crisis on February 10, despite being elected as SNP Westminster leader on December 6. It was just yesterday when the SNP’s deputy leader Keith Brown insisted the party was “one of the most transparent” in the UK…

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Flynn admitted it was a “difficult time” for SNP staff:

“It’s obviously a situation which is in a state of flux.  When you’re not in control of something, it’s best not to make firm commitments as to what could or couldn’t happen.”

I became fully aware of the situation in February, as I said to you, I received an email from our finance officer who advised me that back in September the party’s auditors had opted not to continue and we need to find our own.”

The only problem is Ian Blackford claimed on Sunday that his deputy Kirsten Oswald gave Flynn “a very firm and detailed briefing” on the party’s finances when Flynn knifed Blackford in the back to replace him. So detailed that Flynn didn’t know his team is on track to lose £1.2 million…

The SNP’s financial headaches are about to get even worse. Unless a new auditor is found by May 31, the party’s Westminster Group faces losing £1.15 million in short money, which will be withdrawn under Commons rules until auditors sign off on the party accounts. Short money is the taxpayer cash given to opposition parties to pay staff wages and MP travel, which is only provided on the condition it is used “exclusively in relation to the party’s parliamentary business.” No auditor, no cash. Given there are serious questions over the £110,000 motorhome purchased using the SNP’s campaign money, finding someone willing to sign along the dotted line here might prove difficult…

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn is now also feeling the heat, with Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray sending a letter to Flynn, IPSA and Penny Mordaunt in which he raised questions over Flynn’s knowledge and potential involvement over the party’s cash crisis. Radio silence so far…

Admittedly a decent trick question from SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn. Some awkward smirks even on the Tory benches…

It was just one week ago when the SNP’s new Westminster leader Stephen Flynn boasted of his party’s “positive and proactive” efforts to prevent nurses’ strikes north of the border. He even asked when Westminster would “follow Scotland’s lead“. Well, this afternoon, members of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland voted to strike in the new year. Take notes, Rishi…