SNP's Ian Blackford accuses Stephen Flynn of giving false assurances over auditors

Senior SNP MPs are at loggerheads after the party's former Westminster leader accused his successor of giving him false assurances about the group's auditors.

Ian Blackford told the BBC he had been given an assurance by Stephen Flynn earlier this month that the Westminster group had a new auditor in place.

However, Mr Flynn denied this was the case.

The BBC is unable to verify which account of the conversation is correct.

It comes amid an ongoing police investigation into the SNP's finances.

The party and its Westminster group - made up of MPs who sit in the House of Commons - are both looking for auditors after the previous company resigned in September.

The group in Westminster has been exploring getting its own auditors to meet a 31 May deadline to receive public money.

In another sign of tensions in the SNP, senior figures at Westminster are giving different versions of the situation.

Mr Blackford told the BBC he was phoned by Mr Flynn on 7 April and given the assurance a new auditor was being appointed.

But no auditor has been appointed since. Mr Blackford is said to be angry, because he assured the media the party would be able to meet its obligations.

A senior SNP source said a discussion had taken place "but no assurances were provided that this would be certain and would meet deadlines".

Mr Flynn told an Institute for Government event he was working to secure an audit firm and was "hopeful" one would soon be in place. However, he added that he could not provide "categorical assurances" that deadlines would be met.

"Those that have provided categorical assurances in relation to that would have probably been wise not to have done so," he said, in an apparent reference to previous comments from Ian Blackford last month, when he said the SNP "will be able to meet our obligations and liability going forward".

The SNP group at Westminster could miss out on £1.2m in public funds if it if it cannot provide audited accounts by 31 May.

The group must meet this deadline in order to receive "Short money" - public funding for opposition parties to carry out their parliamentary work.

On Monday, the new SNP leader and First Minister Humza Yousaf said he was going to work towards meeting the deadline but admitted it would be "challenging".

Mr Flynn said the party was having problems finding new auditors, partly due to the fact that the financial year was nearing its end as well as the overall challenges in the party's finances.

Accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael, which had worked with the party for more than a decade, said it resigned from its auditing role after a review of its clients.

Mr Yousaf has said he only found out about this when he took on his new role at the end of March, while Mr Flynn said he only learned of the situation in February.

The ongoing police investigation saw the SNP's former chief executive Peter Murrell, who is married to former party leader Nicola Sturgeon, and former treasurer Colin Beattie arrested earlier this month.

Both men were released without charge pending further inquiry.

Police Scotland launched its Operation Branchform investigation in July 2021 after receiving complaints about how more than £600,000 of donations earmarked for independence campaigning were spent.

Questions were raised after accounts showed the SNP had just under £97,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, and total net assets of about £272,000.