THE former minister Mark McDonald has resigned from the SNP after an investigation found he had harassed two women by “exploiting his position of power”.

However he intends to stay at Holyrood as the Independent MSP for Aberdeen Donside.

It means he will be paid around £200,000 between now and the Scottish election in 2021.

The 37-year-old had been facing vote of no confidence by his former colleagues in the SNP group at Holyrood, who were due to decide whether he should remain in the group.

He also faced a decision by SNP HQ on whether he should remain in the party in any way.

His resignation came a day after he was told an SNP investigation into his conduct found he had had deliberately and persistently pestered women with “inappropriate and unwanted” messages, and paid them “unwanted attention causing distress”.

He was also guilty of “exploiting his position of power”, the report said.

Investigators were unable to reach a definitive conclusion about a complaint from a third woman about “inappropriate physical contact at a social event”, believed to be an SNP Christmas party at Holyrood.

Opposition parties questioned why Mr McDonald should remain an MSP and urged the SNP to publish its investigation into his conduct in full.

After announcing a press conference at short notice, Mr McDonald said wanted to continue serving the interests of the people of the community.

He offered a "public and unreserved apology" for the "hurt and offence" he had caused to the two individuals involved.

He also sent a "genuine and heartfelt" written apology to one of the women after she requested it.

He said he had received counselling from a "behaviour coach" to help understand how his behaviour had affected others.

He said he hoped he was on his way to becoming a better, "more empathetic" person as a result of the sessions, although that would ultimately be for others to judge.

He said he emailed the party and the parliament to say that he intended to return to Holyrood for the first time since his resignation next week.

He refused to take questions from the media.

Last month the Herald revealed he had received an automatic “resettlement grant” of more than £7000 from the Scottish Parliament because he had left ministerial office.

The revelation prompted calls for a change in the law to ensure such payments reflected the circumstances in which ministers quit, but MSPs later ducked a decision on the issue.

Mr McDonald resigned as the minister for childcare and early years on November 4 after admitting to “inappropriate” behaviour, but downplayed it as a misfired attempt at humour.

He also said he would like to return to work as a minister in the future.

Nicola Sturgeon also downplayed Mr McDonald’s actions at first, saying his behaviour was “of a kind that some others may well have thought was not serious enough to resign”.

She said at the time: “He's a good MSP and he will continue to be so."

But a week later Mr McDonald admitted his action had caused “considerable distress and upset” and that he had accepted an offer of support “through the SNP” to address it.

It is understood a sexually suggestive text message was involved in the case.

After a second allegation surfaced against him, Mr McDonald was suspended by the SNP on November 16, losing both the parliamentary whip and his place in the party.

The SNP has been repeatedly criticised for dragging its feet on the investigation, which has lasted more than 100 days.

It has still not been published.

Mr McDonald said he had expected the investigation to take a few weeks and he regretted his absence from Holyrood.

Tory MSP Alexander Burnett said: “Many people will rightly be questioning why Mark McDonald thinks that his behaviour was bad enough to resign from the SNP, but not to resign from the Scottish Parliament

“He is clearly prioritising the reputation of the SNP over that of Holyrood, and it’s simply not good enough.

“This saga has dragged on for months yet we still don’t have any detail on the allegations against Mark McDonald.

“The SNP now need to come clean and publish the report into his behaviour so that the public can judge whether he is fit to remain as an MSP.”

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: "Mark McDonald decided his conduct was not fit for a minister or an SNP MSP - but somehow it is acceptable for an MSP without party affiliation.

"People in Aberdeen Donside will rightly question that. It looks like Mark McDonald has put the reputation of the SNP before what is best for his constituents.

"The message from this statement is that Mark McDonald considers the reputation of the SNP more important than the standards expected of an MSP." 

An SNP spokesperson said: "The findings of the independent investigation were shared with Mark McDonald on Monday, and the SNP group was due to consider disciplinary action, based on those findings.

“Investigators concluded that Mr McDonald had been deliberate in his actions, and should have been aware that it was not appropriate for an individual in his position to be behaving in such a manner.”