WESTERN Isles MP Angus MacNeil has announced he has been expelled from the SNP.
It comes after he was given a one-week suspension from the party’s Westminster group last month after publicly clashing with chief whip Brendan O'Hara in the division lobby.
The suspension was due to expire on July 12 however MacNeil refused to rejoin the group, claiming he would only do so when the SNP showed urgency on the issue of independence.
On Thursday evening the party's conduct committee met to discuss his case.
Following the meeting, MacNeil took to Twitter to announce that he had been expelled from the party and imply he had been subject to a "kangaroo court" by using a kangaroo emoji.
The Summer of Member Expulsion, has indeed come to pass. As I have been expelled as a rank & file SNP member by a "member conduct committee." 🦘 I didn't leave the SNP - the SNP have left me. I wish they were as bothered about 🏴 independence as they are about me! 🤷🙄
— Angus B MacNeil MP🇺🇦 (@AngusMacNeilSNP) August 10, 2023
He said: "The Summer of Member Expulsion, has indeed come to pass. As I have been expelled as a rank & file SNP member by a ‘member conduct committee’.
“I didn’t leave the SNP – the SNP have left me. I wish they were as bothered about independence as they are about me!”
The 53-year-old has represented the Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Western Isles) constituency since 2005.
The decision means he cannot sit as an SNP MP any longer and appears to rule out any reconciliation with the party.
MacNeil has said he will run in the constituency, a key Labour target, as an independent at the next General Election.
MacNeil previously told The National he has "absolutely no plans" to join Alba.
On Wednesday, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn was asked about MacNeil as he spoke to journalists on the by-election campaign trail in Rutherglen and Hamilton West.
He told the PA news agency the party’s MPs should not “pick and choose” when they hold the party whip.
He added that he and his colleagues wanted a “positive outcome” but said that this was not always possible in politics.
