Aberdeen South candidate Stephen Flynn has spoken candidly about the party’s solution to safeguarding the NHS during an appearance on ITV’s Loose Women.
The north-east representative joined hosts Kaye Adams, Sally Dynevor, Janet Street-Porter, and Denise Welch on today’s show for their last pre-election interview.
His appearance comes less than 24 hours before voting for the General Election begins.
The presiding SNP Westminster leader was quizzed on his promises to bolster the NHS both in Scotland and across the border.
The SNP party have pledged to increase NHS pay by six billion and give one billion to NHS Scotland as well as increase maternity pay.
Janet raised concerns about how they were going to pay for and if increasing income tax was the scenario.
In response, Stephen said: “It’s essentially progressive taxation. What that means is in Scotland, you get your free prescription, you get your free university care, we have a Scottish child payment.”
Janet interjected, to ask, “Do you think that everybody in the United Kingdom should be paying more income tax?
He replied, “I do believe that to fund the public services that we have, the NHS isn’t going to get better by cutting it. We need to invest in it and the only way to invest in it is to raise taxes.
“What we should also be doing is looking to join the European single market.”
SNP on Scottish Independence: ‘People in Scotland have the ability to make their own decisions’
The SNP Westminster leader addressed his views on Independence and the European Union, before saying the ‘right wing’ should be tackled head on.
Touching on Scottish Independence and the UK’s place within the EU, Stephen added: “I, on a basic level, genuinely believe that people in Scotland have the ability to make their own decisions, that we have industry and the ingenuity to decide out own future and determine our own path.”
“When you are within the European Union, you are there as a partner, you are there working in tandem with others.
“I would like to see a situation where all the UK nations are back in the EU. I think it would be beneficial.
“What you do when there is a more to the far right, is you don’t run away from it, you challenge it and you take it head on and you say, “These are my views, these are my values.”
“I think migration is a good thing. It adds a lot to our public sector and our NHS wouldn’t survive without the migrants who work within it.”
Stephen Flynn tries not to be ‘Disney’ dad
On a lighter note, he spoke of how he tries not to be a ‘Disney’ dad as he juggles family life with his role as an MP.
Addressing the Loose Women audience, he admits they haven’t quite “nailed it” when it comes to the work-life balance.
“It puts a huge amount of pressure on us and honestly, I wouldn’t get by without my wife’s help and the help of my parents and her parents who travel up to provide a little bit of extra childcare.
“My wife makes huge sacrifices in her life in order to make sure the boys get to everything they need to be at. I then come home and try not to be the ‘Disney’ dad who wants to go and take them to all the fun things, and she’s got to be the good cop and the bad cop, as opposed to me being just the good cop.
“We try and manage it the best we can. I don’t think we have quite managed to nail it, but we are doing our best.
The Loose Women panel tried to tease out an answer from Stephen Flynn on whether he sees himself as the SNP’s next leader.
Although he played down his ambitions the panel joked that he would be up for the job.
Stephen said: “I think in general, politicians always want to aim for the highest place that they possibly can but it’s not something I give a huge amount of consideration to.
“I’ve got young kids and that’s always in the back of my mind, for sure.”
