John Mason will not appeal the SNP's decision to expel him over his controversial Gaza remarks.

The Glasgow Shettleston MSP told The Herald his former party has changed gradually over the years, with tolerance on different views diminishing over time.

He announced his decision not to appeal and remain as an independent MSP until the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.

Mr Mason had the party whip withdrawn in August after stating that he did not believe Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, Palestine.

But he was later expelled after the SNP's member's conduct committee ruled he had shown no "contrition or awareness" since making the comments.

It also ruled he was likely to make similar comments in the future, making the expulsion the only "appropriate" sanction.

In a social media statement, Mr Mason said: "As many people know, I was incredibly disappointed and saddened to be first suspended and then expelled from the Scottish National Party last week."

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"The SNP when I joined it was a 'big tent' or 'broad church' type of party, allowing a wide variety of views within it, as long as there was a commitment to Scottish independence," he said.

"However, it does seem to have become less tolerant and narrower over the years and it is not as inclusive as it used to be. That is not where I want it to be but I fully accept that it is up to the members to decide how they want the party to be."

He said: "I do not think that my spinning out the process even longer would be to anyone's benefit. Therefore, I have very reluctantly decided not to appeal."

Mr Mason thanked former first ministers Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon for their "help and support" over the years.

The 67-year-old previously told The Herald he would not be "bitter" or "spiteful" towards his former party.

Speaking to The Herald on Tuesday, he said: “I still hope that within the SNP there will be a debate about tolerance and things but I personally don’t want to go down the route of appealing and whatever else might come after that.”

He said the party had changed over a “gradual process”.

“A lot of people joined after the (independence) referendum, who had a much more, maybe specific view in where they wanted the SNP to go compared to back in maybe the 1990s and before that when it was much more everybody on board and you were kind of allowed more of a variety of views," he added.

Mr Mason was first represented the SNP as a councillor in the late 1990s, running the SNP as leader of the opposition in Glasgow City Council.

He won the Glasgow East seat from Labour in the House of Commons in a 2008 by-election before losing the seat in 2010 and entering the Scottish Parliament in 2011.

His expulsion came after he took to X/Twitter to claim: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.”

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The comments were immediately condemned from those within his own party, including former Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who labelled Mr Mason an “embarrassment” and “not fit to represent anyone”.

The SNP described his comments as “utterly abhorrent”.

It is not the first time the backbencher has made his personal views known, with controversy caused over his perspective on same-sex relationships, gender reforms and abortion.

During his suspension, he attended buffer zone protests on the day safe-access zones came into force.

Discussing the budget, he said: “That’s further down the line, I think. I’ll certainly be speaking to the SNP whips and discussing some of the practical issues of this.

“But I was elected for the SNP and that’s changed. My constituents would expect me to be voting with the SNP normally. So I think normally speaking I would be, but there will be all sorts of discussions going ahead.”

Mr Mason also told The Herald last week that he would not react to calls for him to step down and trigger a by-election. 

“I don’t think it will help the SNP because there’s a reasonable chance for Labour to win the seat," he said.

“So I don’t want to damage the SNP. And nothing has changed since I was elected in 2021. My views are exactly the same on Israel and everything else when I was elected.”