SNP MP Angus MacNeil has blasted the party's independence strategy as he announced that he will not sit as an SNP MP until October.
The Western Isles MP said the party was had no "urgency for independence" and said he would only rejoin if it provides “clarity on independence” at the SNP October conference.
MacNeil was given a seven-day suspension from the Westminster group last week after he accused the chief whip of bullying. He was due to rejoin the group today.
MacNeil said he was not resigning because of his bust up with Brendan O'Hara but because of the SNP's independence strategy.
He said he will only rejoin the group "if it is clear that the SNP are pursuing independence."
MacNeil is the party's second-longest serving MP, having been elected in 2005.
He is seen as an ally of Alex Salmond and was rumoured to be joining Alba in 2021 when two other SNP MPs defected.
He has been a vocal critic of the party in recent months, regularly speaking out against former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and current FM Humza Yousaf.
MacNeil tweeted on Wednesday: "I shall not now be seeking to rejoin the Westminster SNP group until at least October.
"Meanwhile I will sit as an independent MP."
He added in a statement: “I will only seek the SNP whip again if it is clear that the SNP are pursuing independence.
“At the moment, the SNP has become a brand name missing the key ingredient. The urgency for independence is absent.”
He continued: “The Scottish Government went to the Supreme Court a year ago utterly clueless about how to pursue independence, left the Supreme Court utterly clueless about how to pursue independence.
“The SNP still have no clear understanding that it has to use elections to negotiate Scottish independence from Westminster by getting the backing of the majority of the electorate.
“The SNP members must have a say at conference on the policy direction, which is hasn’t until now.”
MacNeil was suspended for seven days on Wednesday last week after he accused chief whip O'Hara of "bullying".
The pair had been involved in a clash in the voting lobbies in Westminster over MacNeil missing several key votes to go on a paid for trip to Qatar.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn suspended MacNeil after his tweets about the incident.
The Western Isles is one of Labour's target seats at the general election.
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