A SENIOR SNP MP said Scotland will be ignored at Westminster' as she announced her intention to stand for Holyrood.
Joanna Cherry has confirmed she will step down as an MP to focus on Scotland if she is elected to Ruth Davidson’s Holyrood seat, adding that she would seek support from her party to challenge for the Edinburgh Central constituency.
Angus Robertson, former SNP Westminster leader, already announced plans to bid for the seat.
Announcing his intention to contest the seat, Mr Robertson accused Ms Davidson of putting “other career interests in London ahead of the people she still represents at Holyrood” and argued that constituents “deserve better”.
Ms Cherry confirmed today she would step down as an MP if she succeeded in being elected to Holyrood, adding that her current role in Westminster overlaps with the Edinburgh Central constituency.
She said her office “routinely deal with devolved constituency cases due to the indifferent of Ruth Davidson MSP, and her failure to provide support and advice to her constituents.”
The MP said: “Edinburgh Central is my home branch, I have been a member there since 2008.
“I have lived in the constituency since 2002 and since 2015 I have been the MP for Edinburgh South West which covers a significant part of the Central seat, including Gorgie, Dalry Haymarket, Fountainbridge and part of Tollcross/Bruntsfield.
“I am very grateful to all the people who have approached me and encouraged me to put my hat in the ring when nominations open.”
Ms Cherry, a QC, rose to prominence since election in 2015, most notably for leading a legal challenge against the Conservative administration’s decision to prorogue the UK parliament for five weeks before the General Election.
It was successful in the Supreme Court, resulting in the quashing of the suspension.
She added: “Scotland must have the right to escape Boris Johnson’s Brexit; we must have the right to choose our own future and we need a strategy to get us to that point of decision.
“With a large Tory majority across England the UK is set firmly on a hard Tory agenda for the next decade. Scotland will be completely ignored at Westminster, the movement for Scotland to be an independent European nation can only be realised from Holyrood and I want to offer my services where I think they can be of most use.”
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