Shock SNP move could bar Fergus Ewing from running on its ticket in 2026 so is the party about to shoot itself in the foot over the outspoken Highland MSP and make Inverness and Nairn competitive?
The SNP may try to stop MSP Fergus Ewing running for the party in Inverness and Nairn in a move that is likely to turn a safe seat into a competitive one overnight with Liberal Democrats and Labour both circling.
The Herald broke the news that one insider said the case against the veteran MSP was "compelling" after Mr Ewing earlier told The Week in Holyrood that “I'm just actually waiting to see whether my party wishes me to stand again”.
Mr Ewing has been outspoken in recent years over a number of touchstone issues favoured by his party but which he was against as were many of his constituents.
If he is prevented from running on the SNP ticket it is unlikely to go down well in the Highlands where Mr Ewing is respected as a staunch defender of the region’s interests.
In electoral terms, it would remove a sitting MSP who has won the last three elections with 47.7 per cent of the vote in 2021, 48.3 in 2016 and 21.5 per cent in 2011.
That would contrast unfavourably with the decision that saw former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and former party treasurer Colin Beattie both clear vetting despite being under police investigation.
Mr Ewing’s sins in the eyes of the party concern criticism of policies that ultimately failed, like the A9 dualling, gender reform, the deposit return scheme, and highly protected marine areas.
Under the SNP’s vetting procedure elected members and activists who have stood previously should only have to update their vetting form and declare any new information, followed by a short interview by phone.
On Friday, Mr Ewing said: “I think the party machine has become too all-powerful in selecting candidates who may be suitable from the party point of view — in other words, obedient and pliant — but perhaps not what the people want.”
Responding to press reports that he faces being rejected from the list of approved SNP candidates for the Holyrood election next year, Fergus Ewing MSP said: “All I can say is that I have heard nothing from either the SNP HQ or Holyrood leadership.
“I have read in various papers that a “senior insider” believes that there is a ‘compelling’ case for my rejection. But that individual, whoever it may be, lacks the guts to give his or her name to that view.
“The facts are these: I have been a member of the SNP for over half a century. I contested the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency on two occasions in UK General Elections in the nineties, when SNP candidates stood because of belief in our cause, and not to seek a cushy career. Few of us then really expected to win.
“In 1999 after ‘nursing’ it for a decade, with support from a small group of activists, I won the seat with a narrow majority of a few hundred votes. Since then, I have been elected on each of the five Elections to Holyrood with a majority of around ten thousand votes.
“In addition, I loyally served the SNP and more importantly, the country, as minister and cabinet secretary for 14 years. For the past four years, as a backbencher, I have spoken out for my constituents on matters such as dualling the A9 and A96 - both long standing SNP policies - but also promises pledged in SNP manifestos in every election for the past 14 years.
“In doing so, I have simply been demanding that the SNP in government do what it promised the people it would do at every election campaign, when seeking to win their votes. I have also spoken out for our most successful leader, the late Alex Salmond, who for many people amongst the party leadership has become a non-person. That is shocking in itself, but also a bitter irony since most of them would never have been elected were it not for his leadership.
“I also speak out for our farmers, fishermen, oil and gas workers whose work is so important for the country, whilst working to reform the NHS alongside local health clinicians. My job is where necessary, to put my constituents, and my areas interests ahead of those of my political party.
“If these actions are considered by senior SNP ‘insiders’ to be political ‘crimes’, then I plead ‘guilty’ - and pledge to the constituents who sent me to Holyrood that I will, no matter what, continue to speak out for them. If this is a ‘crime’, then I can promise there will be several repeat offences ahead.”
He added: “It is not particularly edifying to read about oneself in the papers, when the Party Bosses remain tight-lipped. No doubt they will at some point get around to communicating directly with me.”
