Fergus Ewing will not stand for the SNP in 2026 - but may run as an independent

Fergus Ewing says he will not stand for the SNP at next year’s Holyrood election - but may still stand as an independent.

The rebel backbencher said he would not quit the Nationalist party before next year’s Scottish Parliament election. But he said there was a chance he would run for election as an independent candidate if his party does not make “significant progress” on dualling the A9 and A96.

Mr Ewing has been highly critical of his own party and the Scottish Government in recent years, including its shift away from North Sea oil and gas, its policies on gender reform, and the Bute House Agreement, the power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens.

Fergus Ewing MSP | John Devlin/National World

The former Cabinet secretary has said the SNP has “become far too tribal and divisive”.

Mr Ewing said: “I have wrestled with my conscience for perhaps too long. I am afraid I cannot defend the record of the SNP on the pledges to dual the A9 and A96 - both so vital for my constituency.”

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However, Mr Ewing said his constituents were still encouraging him to stand as an independent candidate. He was temporarily suspended from the SNP in 2023 for voting against the Government in a vote of no-confidence in then Green circular economy minister Lorna Slater.

READ MORE: The Scottish politicians standing down at the 2026 Holyrood election

Mr Ewing said: “The key issue for me as a constituency MSP is delivering on the promises both I and my party have made at election after election. Unless substantial and significant progress is made before next March on both dualled road projects, I may consider standing next year as an independent candidate.

“I will set out in due course what that progress should reasonably entail.”

Fergus Ewing MSP | Press Association

Mr Ewing is the son of Nationalist trailblazer Winnie Ewing and has been the MSP for the Inverness area since devolution in 1999. However, he said the SNP had shifted away from its traditional values in recent times.

“The SNP is just no longer the party for all of Scotland, as it has been for most of my 50 years as a member,” he said. “The party can change and, in my opinion, must do so.

“That is why I am not simply standing down now from the SNP group. I honour my own party membership, which I was born into and which is part of my very soul.”

If Mr Ewing stands down next year, it will be the first time since 1974 that no member of the Ewing family has represented the SNP in any elected parliament. His sister, MSP Annabelle Ewing, has said she will be resigning.

Mr Ewing said: “My constituents do not want a nest of fearties in their Parliament. They do want a strong independent voice - that is precisely what I have sought to provide for them.”

Responding to Mr Ewing’s statement, Conservative MSP Edward Mountain said: “It is quite telling that even SNP royalty cannot bring themselves to stand again for the party next year. Fergus Ewing has delivered a devastating record on his party’s appalling failures in government, particularly in relation to their total lack of progress on dualling the A9 or A96.

“Those failures are literally a matter of life and death, yet SNP ministers are still failing to prioritise these projects.

“Given someone who says he was born into the SNP cannot bring himself to defend these broken promises any longer, the anger among local voters served by these key roads will be palpable.”