Fergus Ewing to stand as an independent
The MSP explained his reasons in a statement released on Friday after months of public discussion over whether he would continue as a politician due to the ongoing differences between him and the SNP leadership. Mr Ewing voted against Lothians MSP Lorna Slater during a vote of no confidence in 2023. After a temporary suspension following his breaking of the whip he was restored to the SNP benches but announced earlier this year he would not stand for the party at the election next year.
He said: 'For 26 years I have had the privilege to be the constituency MSP for Inverness and Nairn. I am enormously grateful for having had the opportunity to serve.
'Over that time, I have seen the Scottish Parliament at its best and its worst. I fear in recent years it has been at its worst.
That is why today I am announcing my decision to stand for the honour of representing the people of Inverness and Nairn for the seventh time as an independent.
'I want to help get the Scottish Parliament back to its best.
'This has not been an easy decision. I have taken it because I love the people of Inverness and Nairn and the people of Scotland more than my party which I have been in for more than half a century.
'The SNP has been part of the fabric of my life for more than half a century. Indeed, I believe there has been a distinctive thread of Ewing running through its plaid for even longer. I hope that is never removed. But fabrics can become worn. I hope the SNP can repair itself and return to the honour and traditions of those who first wove it in a manner that meets Scotland's real modern needs.'
Mr Ewing continued: 'Over the 14 years as a Scottish Government Minister I tried every day, to help ordinary people, and to improve their lives, in each of the portfolios in which I served.
'But over the past decade, the party seems to have deserted many of the people whose causes we used to champion.
'In oil and gas, farming, fishing, rural Scotland, tourism, small business and many other areas of life. Betraying generations who fought for women's rights.
'It's time for Holyrood to live up to the high expectations people rightly held for it, when my mother, Winnie, reconvened our own Parliament in 1999.
'It came of age some years ago – surely now it's time for it to grow up. To act with maturity.
'Over the past four years on the backbenches, I sought to offer advice as a critical friend.
'Warning Nicola Sturgeon at the outset, that to enter a pact with the fringe Green Party was a strategic blunder which would only damage us by association.
'Then we saw the Bute House Agreement, negotiated by the present First Minister, gradually disintegrate as inherent flaws in its promised policies were inevitably exposed as manifestly impracticable and wholly unaffordable.
'These failures – plus a strange preoccupation with issues regarded as largely irrelevant to most people' lives – have all cost the SNP much loss of electoral support but also something else which is priceless. Public trust.'
Mr Ewing's family is an integral part of SNP history. His sister Annabelle is MSP for Cowdenbeath and his late mother Winnie won the Hamilton seat in 1967 which was a pivotal moment for the party. The SNP have selected Emma Roddick who sits as a regional MSP to contest Mr Ewing's seat in Inverness and Nairn.
Fergus Ewing MSP.
Credit: Colin D Fisher/CDFIMAGES.COM
Like this:
Like
Related
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
42 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Scottish Parliament chief to stand down at next Holyrood election
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HOLYROOD presiding officer Alison Johnstone will stand down as an MSP next year. The former Scottish Greens politician has announced that she won't run in next May's election. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 2 Alison Johnstone is set to stand down as an MSP Credit: Alamy 2 She has been presiding officer at the Scottish Parliament since 2021 Credit: Alamy Ms Johnstone took on the non-partisan presiding officer position in 2021. Following the last Scottish Parliament election, the Lothians MSP emerged as the only candidate for the Holyrood chamber role. She was elected with 97 votes in favour, 28 against, two abstentions and one spoiled ballot. The job of presiding officer is equivalent to the Speaker of the House of Commons. They are responsible for overseeing business at Holyrood and chairing meetings in the debating chamber. Ms Johnstone, 59, said: 'I was elected in 2011 and it was always my intention that this would be my last term in Holyrood.' She said she did not come from a political background, adding: 'I was not in a political party but campaigned for the creation of a Scottish Parliament and I then worked as an assistant for Robin Harper, the first-ever Green parliamentarian in the UK elected to the first-ever Scottish Parliament.' Recent weeks have seen the Scottish Conservatives accuse Ms Johnstone of bias in her role, an allegation she has always denied. At the end of May, the presiding officer took the rare decision to kick former Tory leader Douglas Ross out of the chamber due to his interjections at First Minister's Questions. During her tenure, Ms Johnstone guided the parliament through the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, which included implementing social distancing and remote working practices. John Swinney defends Gray's car use after minister was 'driven to pub' She was also heavily involved in the ceremony following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, when the King visited the Scottish Parliament to hear a special motion of condolence session. Before entering politics, she was a qualified athletics coach and previously held the east of Scotland titles for the 800m and 1,500m.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Starmer clamps down on Labour welfare rebels
Sir Keir Starmer is set to clamp down on Labour rebels by forcing them to show up to next week's vote on benefit cuts. Backbenchers opposed to the Government's sweeping welfare reforms said their permission to be absent from Parliament on July 1 has now been withdrawn. More than 100 Labour MPs are understood to be prepared to revolt over the Prime Minister's plans to bring down the benefits bill by £4.3 billion. The plans mean that only the most disabled adults could claim Personal Independence Payments, while about 250,000 people are projected to be pushed into poverty. When a Commons rebellion is deemed likely, MPs are often 'slipped' – granted permission by their party whips not to attend – to ensure they do not vote legislation down. But it is understood that the Government has taken the opposite approach and expects Labour MPs to show up and support the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. The Government's working majority in the Commons is 165, meaning that 83 MPs would need to oppose the cuts to force a parliamentary defeat. One MP planned to attend an event at a school in their constituency on Jul 1 until they were informed they would no longer be able to do so. 'They have cancelled everyone's slips that day,' they said. 'I was meant to be at a thing at my local primary school. 'When I found out that was when the vote was going to be, I thought maybe I would vote against the Bill at its third reading rather than its second. 'But then they cancelled my slip and I thought, okay, that has made my decision for me.' The MP accused Downing Street of 'very bad management' and claimed its approach would backfire by increasing the size of the revolt. 'Everyone I speak to, it's not whether they're going to support it, it's whether they're going to abstain or vote against,' they added. 'It's the same with winter fuel and grooming gangs – it's another hill we're being marched up. There's a repeated theme of a bunker mentality in No 10 and thinking they know best.' A second MP was going to be on an overseas trip at the start of July, which has now been cancelled altogether on account of the vote. 'We had visas, we had flights, we had everything booked and we had to cancel it,' they said. 'Fundamental concerns not addressed' After weeks of reflecting on the issue, the MP said they had told their whip last week they could not vote for the Bill and added that the same was true of many of their colleagues. 'At the moment, I can't see them getting it through in its current room. I'm not interested in trying to cause trouble. 'But they need to change the details of the Bill. It's slightly different to the green paper, but the fundamental concerns that people have had haven't really been addressed. 'There's some positive stuff and some positive intentions, but the cliff-edge that this creates is just too sharp.' More Government frontbenchers are said to be on 'resignation watch' over the cuts after Vicky Foxcroft quit as a whip last week. In a letter to Sir Keir, Ms Foxcroft, a former shadow minister for disabled people, said she could not support 'reforms which include cuts to disabled people's finances'. One rebel said there were 'clearly people on resignation watch', but another downplayed the prospect of further resignations before MPs had tried to extract more concessions. Last week, Sir Keir held a number of one-to-one meetings with those poised to vote against the cuts. The meetings, which were first reported by Sky News, came days after a drop-in event for concerned MPs with Claire Reynolds, Sir Keir's political director in Downing Street. Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has also held a number of meetings with backbenchers in recent weeks aimed at easing their concerns over the Bill. Ms Kendall believes that she has a strong argument to make and that at the heart of the reforms is a push to get long-term sick and disabled people back into work where possible.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Why the ‘individual conscience vote' of MPs had its own assisted death last week
Two votes in the Commons split by four days laid the ground for a seismic shift in British social policy making last week one of the most significant in the modern history of Parliament. But while the votes on abortion (Tuesday) and assisted dying (Friday) were officially matters of individual conscience the evidence from both suggests that the UK is now closer than ever to a US-style party politicisation of moral issues. If you vote Labour or Lib Dem you are much more likely to get a pro-choice MP, if you vote Conservative or Reform you are more likely to get a pro-life MP. This is not an accident, it is increasingly by design. How parties voted on life and death On Tuesday the decriminalisation of abortion up to birth amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill laid down by Labour Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi won by 379 to 137. Of this 291 Labour MPs voted in favour and just 25 against while 63 Lib Dems were in favour and just two against. On the other side 92 Tory MPs voted against and just four in favour. Another four abstained by voting in both lobbies. No Reform MPs supported and four voted against. The split is not as stark on Friday's assisted dying vote but nevertheless reveals a trend. Kim Leadbeater 's bill had the support of 224 fellow Labour MPs with 160 against and 56 Lib Dems with 15 against. On the other side the Tories split 92 against to 20 in favour while Reform were three against and two in favour. Kemi Badenoch put a two line whip on the abortion vote rather than allowing a completely free vote. This indicated a party position without the threat of disciplinary action which would come with a three line whip. But, remarkably, after the abortion vote senior Tories were complaining that Ms Badenoch had not withdrawn the whip of the four MPs who voted for decriminalisation. It was different in 1967 The last time the UK saw Parliament vote on such seismic social change was back in 1967 with Liberal MP David Steel 's abortion legislation and Labour MP Leo Abse's Sexual Offences Act which decriminalised homosexuality. In both those cases parties split down the middle on conscience votes which saw the odd alliance of rightwing Tory MP Enoch Powell and leftwing Labour MP Tony Benn coming together to support legalising homosexuality. The Ed Miliband effect The erosion of the conscience vote in the UK has actually come more from a hardening of positions from progressive leftwing parties in Britain and exacerbated by the so-called culture wars. In 2012 Ed Miliband imposed a three-line whip on gay marriage on Labour MPs. LGBTQ+ matters ended there as something of individual conscience for the first time. Then in 2019 former MP Roger Godsiff was dropped as a Labour candidate for supporting parents in his Birmingham constituency who were protesting over primary school children being taught about same-sex relationships. This year we see Reform UK banning LGBTQ+ flags from county halls where they have taken control of the council and attempting to purge councils of diversity, equity and inclusion officers and policies. While abortion officially remained a matter of conscience a comment by the now home secretary Yvette Cooper in 2017 about Jacob Rees-Mogg being unfit to be a party leader because of his views on abortion was enlightening. What has happened over a number of years is that the majority of socially conservative, mostly Catholic tradition in Labour has been removed through selection processes. David Campanale versus the Lib Dems An ongoing legal case involving the Liberal Democrats and one of its former candidates has highlighted an apparent major shift in British politics to the party politicisation of conscience issues. Former BBC journalist David Campanale was kicked out as the candidate for Sutton ahead of the last election because, he claims, of his Christian beliefs. According to documents presented in the case, Luke Taylor, who replaced him as the candidate, is alleged to have claimed that 'the party of past prominent Liberal Democrats with Christian beliefs, such as Shirley Williams and Charles Kennedy, was 'over', and that he and others were building a 'secular party' which would have no place for Christians expecting to 'hold to their religious or conscientious opinions'. Mr Taylor was the teller for the votes in favour of the abortion amendment on Tuesday, who also described the assisted dying vote, which he supported, as a good way to 'neatly bookend the week.' If Mr Campanale wins his case it will for the first time provide evidence that selection is taking place on conscience issues as well as other matters. The Lib Dems have denied the claims and pointed out that their leader Sr Ed Davey goes to church. But the Christian Lib Dems including former deputy leader Simon Hughes have voiced concerns and the party has been condemned by two bishops. and a former Archbishop of Canterbury. Added to that Tim Farron, who voted against abortion and assisted dying last week, was ousted as leader over his Christian beliefs in 2017. During the assisted dying vote a number of supporters of the bill suggested that religious belief had no place in deciding such issues. A real departure from conscience. But a brand of conservatism is emerging in the UK which openly embraces traditional Christian values. Reflecting on the assisted dying vote, Tory MP Danny Kruger, a leading opponent of the bill, said: 'If we are to withstand our enemies, bring our society together, and tame the technium (somehow ensure that human values govern the new age of machines), we are going to need values that are up to the job. 'I don't think humanist atheism or progressive liberalism or whatever the new religion should be called, is up to it. Christianity is. Only Christianity is.' A warning from America In America, the conscience vote rapidly became more party-politicised as a result of the Roe vs Wade abortion ruling in in 1973. Social conservatives gradually began to take over the Republicans on the right and social progressives the Democrats. It has played out ferociously in the selection of Supreme Court justices, who recently in effect overturned Roe v Wade with a conservative majority. The most interesting US development is the way that a man like Donald Trump, previously ambiguous over abortion, has adopted a strong anti-abortion line to please his base. This played out in the 2022 midterms to the detriment of the Republicans with the Democrats using the threat to abortion rights to great effect. But it did little to help Kamala Harris in 2024. What that shows though is that parties with very strong views one way or the other can be elected largely on economic grounds but bring with them a great deal of baggage on conscience issues. After this week some would argue the same thing has happened in the opposite direction in the UK.
