Ex-minister Fergus Ewing suspended from SNP over rebellions

Former SNP minister Fergus Ewing has been suspended from the party for a week after a disciplinary vote by MSPs.

Mr Ewing has been a critic of the party leadership and had voted against the government in a no-confidence motion.

The SNP's Holyrood Group confirmed the proposal was backed by 48 votes to nine with four abstentions.

Mr Ewing was represented at the hearing by lawyer John Campbell KC. He has two weeks in which to appeal the decision before the punishment begins.

First Minister Humza Yousaf returned home due to illness before the vote and did not take part.

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon was also not present as she was hosting an event elsewhere in parliament.

Mr Ewing was supported by his sister and fellow SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing, former party leadership contender Kate Forbes and MSP Christine Grahame.

In a statement after the vote, Mr Ewing said he was "literally born into the SNP".

He added: "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."

The veteran politician said he had always been loyal to the party as he felt it was attempting to "do the right thing by my constituents and for Scotland".

He continued: "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."

After listing several policies he disagreed with Mr Ewing's statement reflected on the dilemma he now faced.

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

The suspension was condemned by SNP MP Joanna Cherry, who has been a vocal critic of the Scottish government's gender recognition bill.

The former frontbencher wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "I may not agree with Fergus Ewing on everything but he is a man of integrity.

"I'm glad there were rebels on this vote.

"His rebellion is the product of years of inadequate debate in our party about policy making.

"That needs to change. Don't shoot the messenger."

Transport Secretary Mairi McAllan said she "fundamentally" disagreed with Ms Cherry.

She told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that she voted in favour of the suspension, which she described as a "proportionate response to a serious breach of party standing orders".

"It is something I certainly would expect to be the outcome if I had done what Fergus did," Ms McAllan said.

"It is part of a normal party mechanism in a democratic system."

The minister denied that SNP politicians were unable to express their opinions to the leadership.

"The first minister has been quite clear he wants people to come to him and to speak to him internally if they have any concerns they wish to raise, he has an open door in that regard," she added.

In part this is a procedural row about whether Fergus Ewing was in breach of the SNP group's rules when he rebelled in a confidence vote.

But the bigger picture is perhaps more about what the SNP looks like in 2023.

Mr Ewing could be seen as a representative of a more business-friendly, rural wing of the SNP, which was particularly prominent in the Alex Salmond era.

It's a different tribe from the more left-leaning group that has had the leadership since, under Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf.

So Mr Ewing has found himself out of step with his bosses on a variety of recent policies, not least the deal with the Greens.

Mr Yousaf has been fairly tolerant of dissent among his MSPs - up to a point - and the leadership will mostly be keen to get this over and done with and move on.

But there seems to be little prospect that Mr Ewing will feel constrained from speaking his mind again in future.

Mr Ewing faced action after voting against Green minister Lorna Slater in a no-confidence vote.

The motion was tabled by the Conservatives in June, over the circular economy minister's handling of the deposit return scheme.

Mr Ewing, who served as rural economy secretary under Nicola Sturgeon, has criticised Scottish government policies on gender recognition reform and Highly Protected Marine Areas, as well as attacking ministers over a lack of progress on dualling the A9.

Last month, he rebelled against the government in a vote over calls for a 12-month delay to a short-term lets licensing scheme.

Mr Ewing, the MSP for Inverness and Nairn, has also called for a fresh SNP vote on the 2021 power-sharing Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens, who he described as "extremists".

A previous meeting on disciplinary action was cancelled after he contracted Covid-19.

Mr Ewing has been an MSP since the Scottish parliament was created in 1999.

He is the son of SNP icon Winnie Ewing, who died in June aged 93.