The SNP’s Westminster leader has warned that “difficult days lie ahead” for Scotland under the new Westminster Labour Government – but insisted that offering voters a “hopeful horizon” could help put his party on the “path to recovery”.

Stephen Flynn addressed the Scottish National Party conference in Edinburgh after it suffered a bruising defeat in July’s General Election, with its tally of 48 MPs in 2019 reduced to just nine.

He insisted his party needed to “face up to that result and accept the true depth of our defeat”, adding that there is now a “collective challenge” for the SNP to “mend the trust that we have lost with the Scottish people”.

But the Aberdeen South MP went on to claim his party could in the future “surpass” some of its past election successes.

In the 2015 general election, under the leadership of then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats available.

Mr Flynn held out hope that the SNP could “not just rise to that mark again”, but “surpass it”, adding: “That is the hope that must lead us forward together.”

He also said that it was “hope, optimism and aspiration that must guide our response to the challenges we face”.

Mr Flynn told party delegates in Edinburgh: “That’s the path to recovery, it’s the root to real change and it offers the best road to independence.”

His comments came as he attacked the Labour Government installed in Westminster less than two months ago.

He claimed that while Labour had been elected on the “hopeful promise of turning the page on the Tories”, this had now been “replaced with the new Labour promise of a painful politics this autumn”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has already warned the public that things will get worse before they get better, as Mr Flynn accused the UK Government of “taking a hammer to public services” with a new series of austerity measures.

He also claimed Labour had “deliberately” chosen to “say one thing to the public when asking for their votes”, and was now “cynically choosing to say the exact opposite just weeks after it”.

He likened Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves to her Conservative predecessor George Osborne, who was in 11 Downing Street when David Cameron was PM, describing them as being “the architect and the apprentice of austerity”.

Mr Flynn said: “The mood music set by the new Labour Government is a warning that difficult days lie ahead for Scotland.”

But he went on to declare: “No matter how many speeches the new Prime Minister makes, the fundamentals won’t change.

“There is no fixing the foundations of broken Britain with a Westminster migration policy that ignores its economic benefits and demonises some of the most vulnerable people on our planet.

“And there is definitely no fixing the foundations of broken Britain if you won’t even mention – never mind deal with – the ultimate black hole that is Brexit.”

The SNP should offer voters an “optimistic, aspirational vision” as an alternative to this, Mr Flynn added

He told the conference: “Our argument, our belief and our offer to the Scottish people is that Brexit Britain is not ‘as good as it gets’.”

But Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie MSP hit back and said: “Instead of looking to deflect blame and make excuses, the SNP should set out a real plan to fix the mess it has made.

“Scotland deserves better than this out-of-touch and incompetent SNP Government – and Scottish Labour is ready to deliver change.”