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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Andrew Quinn

Joanna Cherry hits out after Ian Blackford calls for SNP unity

An SNP MP has hit out at Ian Blackford after the party's former Westminster leader called for unity.

Edinburgh South West MP Joanna Cherry said the party must acknowledge its problems and change before it can unite.

It comes after Blackford urged the SNP to "come together" after the election of Humza Yousaf as leader.

Cherry hit out at Blackford's comments on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

She said there must be "an end to the monstering of those who asked questions or sounded warnings."

Tweeting a link to an article about Blackford's calls for unity, Cherry said: "Before there can be unity in the SNP there must be an acknowledgment of what’s gone wrong, reform & an end to the monstering of those who asked questions or sounded warnings.

"If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem."

Cherry was dropped from the SNP front bench in Westminster while Blackford was leader.

She has spoken out in support of Alex Salmond and against self-identification for transgender people. This has left her isolated among the Westminster group, according to some of her colleagues.

Blackford was speaking after SNP president Mike Russell said Scottish independence cannot be secured in the immediate future amid the ongoing police investigation into party finances.

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Monday that Russell was signalling that the party is facing “a very challenging period”, and warned that “political parties that aren’t united tend to face electoral challenges”.

The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber added: “I would appeal to everyone in the party to come together now the election contest for the leader and the First Minister is over."

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