Nicola Sturgeon needs to apologise for SNP election failure, says Joanna Cherry

Joanna Cherry says Nicola Sturgeon owes the MPs like her who lost their seats an apology.

The SNP suffered catastrophic losses on July 4, and now only have nine MPs sitting in the House of Commons.

Ms Cherry lost her Edinburgh South West seat by over 6,200 votes, and says voters have become “disillusioned” by the SNP’s independence strategy.

She places the blame squarely at the door of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, saying the Scottish Government is losing its “competence and integrity”.

Speaking on Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Ms Cherry said: “It was difficult to persuade people to vote SNP in this election.

“Many, many former constituents said to me on the doorstep, ‘I would vote for you Joanna, but I just can’t vote SNP this time’.

“Our core support, the people who believe passionately in the cause of Scottish independence, was very disillusioned at the party’s failure to progress the cause of independence and failure to take advantage of some of the opportunities that were presented to us during the Brexit saga and also during the Boris Johnson premiership.

“And on the other hand there were a lot of people who voted for us in the past in Scotland who didn’t necessarily support independence, but saw us as a strong and competent government in Holyrood, and also a party that governed with integrity.

“And I’m afraid to say, I’m not ashamed because it’s not down to me, but I am afraid to say and ashamed for my party, that both our reputation of governing competency and for integrity has taken a severe battering in the last couple of years.”

She was then asked if the former first minister owes the party an apology, to which Ms Cherry said: “I think she does.

Nicola Sturgeon. Photo: Getty

“I don’t think you can ever blame a setback like this on one person, however, Nicola Sturgeon was a very strong leader who brooked no debate and no dissent, as I know to my considerable cost.”

She added there had been a “huge strategic failure” by Ms Sturgeon to further the cause of independence, and said she was “reversing us very slowly down a blind alley on independence”.

However she conceded there is “widespread support” within the party for the new leader and First Minister John Swinney, but added: “If he is to maintain that support, he is going to have to acknowledge the enormity of the setback and address the reasons why it happened.”

Ian Blackford, the party’s former Westminster leader, added voters had sent a “very clear message” that they are “p***ed off”.

Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Mr Blackford said: “You can’t sugar coat any of this.

“It’s up to John what the party does, but the electorate have delivered a very clear message to us - primarily they’re p***ed off.

Former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

“I don’t think anyone is pointing the finger at John and saying he has to go.

“He’s inherited this and he has to own it in terms of fixing it.

“It’s not long until 2026 - you’ve got some time and it can be turned around, but you need to demonstrate that you can be trusted.”

When asked if Mr Swinney could turn the party’s fortunes around, Mr Blackford said: “Time will tell, but there isn’t really anybody else, so he’s the man for it.”

It will be a big change for the SNP in Westminster.

It is no longer the third biggest party, and will no longer automatically have a weekly question at prime minister’s questions.

The party will also receive much less short money and will have less representation on key Westminster committees.

Instead of 48 SNP MPs sitting on the green benches, there will now only be nine - Stephen Flynn, Kirsty Blackman, Seamus Logan, Dave Doogan, Brendan O’Hara, Chris Law, Graham Leadbitter, Pete Wishart and Stephen Gethins.

The small group of MPs are already rallying around John Swinney as the party’s leader, despite the bad result at the polls.

Mr Gethins was elected as the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry with a majority of 850, returning to the House of Commons after losing the North East Fife seat in 2019.

Speaking to BBC The Sunday Show, he said: “Every single political party’s route to power should be through good governance, like John Swinney.

Stephen Gethins MP.

“He is a good First Minister but he only came in two weeks before the election campaign kicked off.”

He added: “John Swinney is an excellent First Minister and a reasonable man who has worked across politics.

“The First Minister and Prime Minister will have disagreements, but John Swinney wants to deliver good and competent government.

“Yes there will be challenging aspects, but there will be areas of common ground as well.”

The Scottish Conservatives have taken no time to deliver blows to the SNP on the back of this interview, saying they are refusing to admit how bad their defeat was.

Meghan Gallacher MSP, the Scottish party’s deputy leader, said: “No matter how desperately SNP politicians try to downplay their catastrophic defeat on Thursday, this was a clear rejection of independence and the politics of division that have become the norm under this nationalist government.

“But the SNP are still refusing to accept that independence is dead and have made it clear that they will prioritise the constitution over Scotland’s real priorities.

“Instead of continuing to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the absolute mess they have made of Scotland’s public services, they should finally drop their independence obsession and focus on the day job.”

Five Conservatives won seats in Scotland at this election - John Lamont, John Cooper, David Mundell, Harriet Cross and Andrew Bowie.