Defiant Fergus Ewing says SNP no longer puts Scotland first

His offence had been to side with the Conservatives in June in a Tory-led no confidence vote against Scottish Green minister Lorna Slater over her handling of the now defunct deposit return scheme.

Flanked by his sister the SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing, who was close to tears, and colleagues Kate Forbes and Christine Grahame, Mr Ewing gave a statement after the 65-minute long meeting. 

He said the SNP no longer put Scotland first.

"I was literally born into the SNP. For me, and indeed many others, support of the party and advocacy of an independent Scotland has been a life’s work," said the 66-year-old former senior minister, who was first elected an SNP MSP in 1999.

"My loyalty to the party has been great. Many is the time as a minister and as an MSP I have bitten my tongue for the greater good.

"I did this because I knew that whatever disagreements or policy shortcomings I thought the party had, it was fundamentally attempting to do the right thing by my constituents and for Scotland.

"It was never an ordinary political party because it was one which put Scotland first. In good conscience this is no longer the case and it has nothing to do with personalities or my antipathy towards the Green Party."

He added: "It has to do with policies on the deposit return scheme, on fishing, on transport, tourism and small businesses, and on boiler replacement, which are deeply hostile to the interests of my constituency.

"The SNP I joined would never have asked me, or indeed any other elected politician, to choose between loyalty to party and loyalty to constituents. Indeed in the old SNP it was always expected that country and constituency would come first. That is why the SNP, while often attacked, was always respected.

"As a minister in Alex Salmond’s government I voted for railways to the borders, the new crossing over the Forth, the completion of the motorway network of central Scotland in the M74, M80 and M8 projects and the magnificent Aberdeen bypass.

"I was proud to do so because I had absolute confidence that the commitments made to the A9 and the A96 would also be met and that the Highlands would have our day in the infrastructure sun. That administration would indeed have kept faith with the Highlands.

"So what am I to do now? Am I to pretend that these promises were never made or to gull my constituents into thinking they have been treated fairly when they clearly have not?

"Or am I rather to speak out fearlessly and apply the same pressure which has already junked the bottle return scheme and the damaging fishing proposals to the madcap boiler ban and honouring pledges on our vital roads.

"I choose to defend my constituents and Iet the cards fall as they will."

Mr Ewing was accompanied in the meeting by John Campbell KC, who had been the lead counsel on the Holyrood building inquiry led by Lord Peter Fraser.

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First Minister Humza Yousaf was not present due to being unwell, while Nicola Sturgeon also missed the meeting due to a prior engagement. 

It is understood to be the first time an SNP MSP has been voted out of the parliamentary group at Holyrood by their peers.

A spokesperson for the SNP Holyrood Group 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."

Speculation first emerged that Mr Ewing would face a sanction after he voted against Ms Slater in the confidence motion in June.

However, the day after the vote, the death of Mr Ewing's mother, the trailblazing SNP politician Winnie Ewing was announced.

The party thought it was appropropriate to delay the disciplinary action for some time.

The special meeting was due to take place last Wednesday but was delayed until tonight after Mr Ewing contracted Covid earlier this month.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy MSP said: “Humza Yousaf has once again shown his contempt for remote and rural Scotland by punishing an MSP who has dared to point out how his government has failed these areas.

“The SNP leader should be listening to Fergus Ewing on issues like oil and gas, dualling the A9 and devastating fishing restrictions, rather than being in thrall to the extremist Greens.

“It tells you everything you need to know about Humza Yousaf’s priorities that Lorna Slater remains in government despite her catastrophic mishandling of the Deposit Return Scheme, while a member of his own party who rightly called for her to go has been ostracised.”