STEPHEN DAISLEY: It was an obnoxious, disruptive display by the Mouth from Aberdeen South...

By STEPHEN DAISLEY, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL SKETCH WRITER Published: 21:10, 4 June 2026 | Updated: 21:10, 4 June 2026 I don’t know who’s been giving Stephen Flynn E-numbers but John Swinney’s would-be successor was hyperactive yesterday. He could barely sit still and was yapping and barking through one contribution after another. You can get away with that sort of boisterousness in the Commons, where the Speaker has so many MPs to corral, but it quickly becomes disruptive — and obnoxious — in the more intimate setting of Holyrood. The Mouth from Aberdeen South began squalling when Malcolm Offord invited the First Minister to admit that Reform had been right about the need for tax cuts. Flynn yelled to ask if Offord paid tax on his various properties. ‘Mr Flynn,’ the Reform leader shot back, ‘I was asking the First Minister to be gracious. I don’t expect it of you.’ Offord has taken well to his new role. He’s eased up since the election and is more nimble on his feet, exuding cheerful disdain for the SNP in barbs and comebacks. In a follow-up question, he canvassed Swinney’s thoughts on whether reductions in marginal tax rates could increase revenue, with the SNP leader insisting he ‘doesn’t accept’ that theory.  Malcolm Offord invited the First Minister to admit that Reform had been right about the need for tax cuts Stephen Flynn yelled to ask if Offord paid tax on his various properties Art Laffer will be disappointed to learn John Swinney doubts his optimal tax modelling just as soon as he’s learned who John Swinney is. Offord had some fun with the news that Nicola Sturgeon is leaving Scotland to live down south, or as he put it ‘a very wealthy Scot is moving to London to enjoy lower English taxes’. This was, he said jabbing the needle in a little further, another example of the SNP’s policies ‘driving away our most talented Scots’. Swinney deftly sidestepped any reflection on his former boss and assured Offord that Sturgeon would sooner be in the same country as Stephen Flynn than share a nation with Offord.  I’m not sure Flynn was on the same planet as anyone else. The bloke should be hooked up to a blood-pressure monitor and have his microphone muted every time it goes over 140. We’d never hear from him again. Anas Sarwar attempted to ambush Swinney with his call for an HMRC investigation into whether the Nats claimed back VAT on Peter Murrell’s embezzled spending.  Swinney put a clamp on his camper van by confirming the Revenue was already probing the matter — at the SNP’s request. Labour having failed to add anything, we turned to the Greens. There are two Ross Greers. One is a mouthy political adolescent, a 32-year-old teenager who oozes certainty and contempt and revels in striking poses that enrage his elders. It’s like a slammed bedroom door developed political sentience. John Swinney confirmed HMRC had been involved  — at the SNP’s request The other is a policy nerd who, though insufferable, is gifted at noticing things others miss, and especially all those little cracks in provision that, if filled promptly, could head off costly damage. Much though it pains me to admit, you can’t have one Greer without the other. There was a solid example of this when he pressed Swinney to back Green demands for a £2 cap on bus fares while increasing services. The SNP is minded to move in this direction, but capping or scrapping fares won’t mean much unless routes and timetables are greatly expanded. Cheap, reliable buses could get drivers out of cars, cut emissions, and give new life to the elderly and lonely. A pricey piece of idealism, perhaps, but transformative stuff that might well save cash in the longer term. Greer is unbearable but this is one idea that bears listening to. And this is where his snarkiness comes back in, for amid his measured case for price caps he casually added: ‘A handful of private bus company owners have become obscenely rich. Some have made so much money they can afford to set fire to a pile of their cash by writing £100,000 cheques to the Scottish Labour Party.’ Fair play to the lad, it was a brutal gag. That it came out of nowhere made the blast all the more potent. The chamber erupted in laughter, all but the Labour MSPs who looked mildly shellshocked. And here I thought the Greens were against dropping nuclear bombs. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.