Fergus Ewing declines to say whether he will rejoin SNP after suspension

The former minister said he would vote against his party again ‘if my conscience told me that I must’

Fergus Ewing has declined to say whether he will rejoin the SNP at the end of his week-long suspension following a series of rebellions.

The former SNP minister said he would vote against his party again “if my conscience told me that I must”.

The Inverness and Nairn MSP – son of the late SNP trailblazer Winnie Ewing – has been an outspoken critic of the party’s leadership in the past year. He has publicly objected to a number of policies, most notably plans for highly protected marine areas (HPMAs), the deposit return scheme and the Scottish Government’s deal with the Greens.

Fergus Ewing during First Minster's Questions (FMQ's) at the Scottish Parliament. Photo credit should read: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

In June, he backed a Conservative motion of no confidence in Green co-leader and Government minister Lorna Slater.

On Wednesday evening, 48 of his colleagues – not including First Minister Humza Yousaf who returned home due to illness before the vote – backed a one-week suspension, which will see the MSP sit as an independent for the duration. Nine voted against the sanction and four abstained.

Speaking after the decision, Mr Ewing said he no longer believed the SNP puts the interests of the people of Scotland first.

Addressing the media after First Minister’s Questions, Mr Yousaf said: "My hope is that Fergus – somebody who I like, and admire, respect, and worked very closely with when I was transport minister, for example – comes back into the party after that week.”

Fergus Ewing arrives for the SNP group meeting. Picture: Conor Matchett

However, Mr Ewing cast doubt on this. Asked if he will rejoin the SNP at the end of his suspension, he said: “Well, look, I’ve been suspended for a week and that was the decision of the group. I’ll have to consider that and decide what to do. I haven’t begun to do that yet, because, as I say, I have been focusing on speaking out in my constituents’ interests, as I see it, on matters that I know are extremely important.”

He added: “I know you want to ask questions about my future. What’s really important to me is that I carry on doing the job that I’ve done, and what I can say to you is that I have a clear conscience.”

Mr Ewing said his sole purpose was to represent his constituents “and to do what I think is right”, adding: "When all is said and done, whether you agree or disagree with me, that’s the point of being an MSP. And the point of having a parliament is to have MSPs that are willing to speak out, and sometimes that means that one has to speak out in a strong way in order to get your message across.”

He continued: “These things are really more important than the future of Fergus Ewing. With respect, the future of Fergus Ewing on a personal level is not something that matters much.”

Mr Ewing was asked if he had spoken to former first minister Alex Salmond, who leads the pro-independence Alba Party, in the last week. He declined to answer. Asked why, he said: “Because I don’t want to.”

Asked if he is going to defect to Alba, he scoffed, adding: “Any serious questions?”

Mr Yousaf said he disagreed with Mr Ewing’s comments that the SNP no longer puts the Scottish interest first. He said: “No, I don’t agree with that, and clearly the last time that proposition was tested nationally was in the local elections and the SNP won those elections.”

He said the SNP group “overwhelmingly” voted for Mr Ewing to be suspended.

The First Minister added: "People should represent their constituents, but if you’re a member of the SNP, elected on the SNP ticket, there is of course standing orders, there’s rules you have to abide by as an SNP MSP, and he was in breach of those standing orders.”

He said the one-week suspension was “very proportionate”.

Mr Yousaf said he had no issue with people having differences of opinion, and he had been tolerant of this. “The difference with Fergus and the actions he took is they were in breach of the standing orders when it came to voting against the Government in a vote of no confidence,” he said.

"I don’t think there’s a single political party, certainly on these islands, that would accept a member voting against the Government, the party they are a part of – voting against the Government in a vote of no confidence without there being any sanction whatsoever.”

Earlier, SNP Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan also said the week-long suspension was “proportionate” given Mr Ewing’s actions. “It is something I certainly would expect to be the outcome if I had done what Fergus did,” she told BBC Radio Scotland. “It is part of a normal party mechanism in a democratic system.”

Asked whether politicians can express their opinions within the SNP, she added: “Of course, I like to think of myself as a free thinker. In particular, 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. But Fergus is a longstanding MSP, he has been a minister, he understands the procedures here and what the outcome is of voting the way he did.”

SNP MP Joanna Cherry, however, claimed Mr Ewing’s rebellion was “the product of years of inadequate debate in our party about policy making”.

In a statement posted on social media, Ms Cherry, who has criticised the Scottish Government’s policy on gender recognition reform, said: “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.”