A SENIOR SNP MP has accused party colleagues of suppressing internal debate, spreading misogynistic “bile” and briefing against her and others outside the leadership.

Joanna Cherry, the party’s justice spokesperson at Westminster, said some activists had tried to “shout down and intimidate” people who wanted an early independence referendum.

The Edinburgh South West MP, who is closer to former First Minister Alex Salmond than Nicola Sturgeon, said “anti-democratic, unhealthy” behaviour was now present in the SNP.

Writing in the National today, she said: “The anonymous ‘senior SNP sources’ who brief against those of us who advocate wider democratic debate within the party should be aware that their underhand behaviour does not endear them to the activists whose hard work has put them in the senior positions they hold.

“I am working towards one goal alone and that is the goal of independence which most of our movement shares. 

“Surely we should all be working towards it together... Only through respectful, open discussion and collaboration will we achieve our goal. Everything else is just noise.”

Ms Cherry last week called for the SNP to be “reframing policy and strategy to make sure that, looking to Scotland’s future, we are the party of radical change”.

The comment was taken as a dig at Ms Sturgeon’s leadership and slow progress towards independence.

Writing in the National, Ms Cherry accused some SNP members of trying to suppress debate about more radical ideas, likening it to the party’s suppression of its left-wing 40 years ago.

She said that period, which included the expulsion of Mr Salmond’s ‘79 Group, “certainly did not work to the SNP’s electoral advantage”.

She said: “Those who would seek to suppress debate about policy and strategy should remember we achieve far more as a party and as a movement when we exchange ideas openly and work to develop the sort of radical policies Scotland needs.

“Many party members were appalled at last year’s October conference when a small group of activists tried to shout down and intimidate speakers who wanted to debate a Plan B on how we might achieve a second independence referendum.

“Whatever you might have thought of the wisdom of the plan being put forward, or indeed as to whether it should be debated at all, this sort of behaviour is anti-democratic, unhealthy and has no place in the SNP.”

The Plan B, advocated by Western Isles MP Angus Brendan MacNeil and Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny, proposed using an SNP election win as the basis for independence to overcome the UK Government blocking a second referendum.

It was opposed by Ms Sturgeon and her circle.

Ms Cherry also said she and other SNP members had received “online abuse and misogyny”, which could deter women from entering political life.

She said: “Most of us in the SNP and the Yes movement have worked hard to ensure a civilised debate on the question of independence. 

“These efforts will be undermined if the bile generated by a minority of activists in our party against women with legitimate concerns is allowed to continue unchallenged. 

“Debating policy and strategy within our party is a good thing. And we should never let those who suggest otherwise bully or cow us into submissive silence.”

Referring pointedly to the “current leadership” of the SNP, Ms Cherry said the party should be holding online debates about policy and strategy during the coronavirus lockdown.

Ms Cherry is hoping to get elected to Holyrood next year in Edinburgh Central, where the incumbent MSP, former Tory leader Ruth Davidson, is standing down.

However former SNP deputy Angus Robertson, who is much closer to Ms Sturgeon than Ms Cherry, is also seeking the SNP candidacy in the seat.

Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South, said: “If Joanna Cherry wants to stoke the civil war in her own party, that’s up to her.

“But I’m confident that most of her constituents would rather she got behind the country to help with the coronavirus recovery instead of trying to engineer a way into the First Minister’s chair."

In the Scotsman, former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said the incompetence of Borios Johnson and the UK Government over Covid-19 had opened the road to independence.

The East Lothian MP wrote: “There was never going to be an Indyref2 this year but arguments over it have been rendered academic. 

“But far from dimming the cause, he’s ignited it with his intransigence. 

“The demands that there has to be a better way and indeed a diverging way from the UK path are only going to increase.

“It’s hardline unionists demanding that we march in unison to possible infection who are out of kilter with Scottish opinion.”

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: “Most will be in despair at the behaviour by these senior SNP politicians.

“They should be completely focussed on the needs of their constituents during this public health emergency, but instead are using it as an opportunity to talk up their campaign to leave the UK.”