Veteran MSP Fergus Ewing has been suspended from the SNP’s parliamentary group at Holyrood for a week.
The Inverness and Nairn MSP – 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 (HPMAs), the deposit return scheme and the Scottish Government’s deal with the Scottish Greens.
Before summer recess, Mr Ewing voted with the opposition in favour of a motion of no confidence in Green co-leader and Government minister Lorna Slater.
On Wednesday evening, 48 of his colleagues – not including 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.
Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon was also not present for the vote because she was elsewhere in parliament hosting an event.
Flanked by his sister and fellow SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing, former party leadership contender Kate Forbes and MSP Christine Grahame, as well as his lawyer John Campbell KC, Mr Ewing said: “I bit my tongue when I didn’t agree with certain policies the party was 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.
I don’t believe that is any longer the case— Fergus Ewing on the SNP '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 conscience, and it grieves me to say this, I don’t believe that is any longer the case.”
Asked how he would conduct himself in the future, Mr Ewing said: “What am I to do now?
“Am I to pretend that the promises to provide the Highlands with safe roads were never made and can be ignored?
“Or am I to proceed as I have done, and speak out fearlessly on these matters, as I’ve done and apply the same pressure, which I did along with others, which has already junked the deposit return scheme and the HPMAs?
“I choose to defend my constituents interests and let the cards fall where they may.”
Mr Ewing has traded barbs with the Scottish Greens in recent months, describing the party as “wine bar revolutionaries” and “hard left extremists”, as well as calling the atmosphere within the SNP group “toxic”.
The decision to suspend Mr 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.”
Mr Ewing has been given 14 days to appeal the decision.
