Veteran MSP Fergus Ewing suspended from SNP over rebellions
The veteran MSP Fergus Ewing has been suspended from the Scottish National party for a week.
The Inverness and Nairn MSP – the son of the late SNP trailblazer Winnie Ewing – has been an outspoken critic of the party’s leadership in the past year.
The former rural affairs secretary has publicly objected to a number of policies, most notably plans for highly protected marine areas, the deposit return scheme and the Scottish government’s deal with the Scottish Greens.
Before the summer recess, Ewing voted with the opposition in favour of a motion of no-confidence in the Green co-leader and government minister, Lorna Slater, which prompted the sanction. Ewing can appeal the decision during a 14-day period.
In a vote on Wednesday evening, 48 MSPs – minus the first minister, Humza Yousaf, who returned home due to illness before the vote – backed the one-week suspension, which will see the MSP sit as an independent for the duration. Nine of his colleagues voted against the sanction and four abstained.
After the vote, Ewing said the SNP was no longer “putting Scotland first”. Flanked by his sister and fellow SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing, the former leadership contender Kate Forbes and the MSP Christine Grahame, he said: “I bit my tongue when I didn’t agree with certain policies the party was promoting. I did so because I thought fundamentally that the party that has been such a big party of my life was fundamentally proceeding in the right way for Scotland – standing up for Scotland.
“The SNP is not an ordinary party – we are a party that has always put Scotland first, and that means to me, putting the interests of the people of Scotland first. But in good conscious, and it grieves me to say this, I don’t believe that is any longer the case.”
The decision to suspend Ewing will not impact the Scottish government’s ability to pass legislation, with the Greens providing more than enough votes for a majority in his absence.
A spokesperson for the SNP said: “At a meeting this evening, a proposal was carried to suspend Fergus Ewing from the SNP Holyrood Group for a period of one week.”
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Ewing has been given 14 days to appeal the decision.