With less than 11 months to go until the Holyrood election, things aren’t looking quite as rosy for the SNP as in previous elections. The party is 15 points down on where it was 2021, it lost the recent Hamilton by-election with Reform hot on its heels and now it has been dealt another blow. SNP veteran Fergus Ewing has confirmed that he will run as an independent at the 2026 Scottish parliament election, turning his back on a political institution he has represented in Holyrood for over a quarter of a century. It’s quite the move from a politician who grew up as SNP royalty, being the son of the party’s first female MP Winnie Ewing. His mother’s victory in the 1967 Hamilton by-election signalled a breakthrough for Scottish nationalists; Ewing’s departure from the party may indicate a rather different kind of pivot.
Ewing has represented the constituents of Inverness and Nairn since 1999 but in March this year said he would not stand for the SNP in 2026. Today he confirmed that he will still pursue a career in frontline politics, but this time he will stand against the party he grew up in. The SNP is ‘no longer the party for all of Scotland’, the 67-year-old lamented. He accused Scotland’s party of government for having ‘deserted many of the people whose causes we used to champion’ and added: ‘I believe the SNP has lost its way and that devolution itself – presently – is letting Scotland’s people down. Holyrood is more fractious and tribal than ever before.’
The MSP has been an ardent critic of the nationalists in recent years, with Nicola Sturgeon’s Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens a catalyst for his public disowning of the SNP. Vocal on issues including growth, infrastructure, women’s rights and rural issues, much of what what the Greens stood for – with their relaxed attitude to growth, being avidly in favour of highly-protected marine areas at the expense of highland and island communities and backing gender reform – was anathema to Ewing. Indeed the writing has long been on the wall. Last April, in an interview with the The Spectator, he insisted his ‘absolute red line’ for his membership of the SNP was the dualling of the A9 and A96 in the north of Scotland. This project – which the SNP began planning for almost 20 years ago – has still not been completed.
Ewing was a frequent disrupter during Humza Yousaf’s premiership – and eventually got himself suspended after he voted against the government during a no-confidence vote in then-junior minister and Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater. Not that Ewing is in any way embarrassed by the scraps he has found himself in with his own party over the years. ‘I think democracy needs an awkward squad,’ he told The Spectator. ‘I won on the DRS [Deposit Return Scheme], I won on HPMAs [Highly Protected Marine Areas], I won on heat pumps, I won on gender reforms – although people like Joanna Cherry were leading the running. And I’ve won on getting the Greens out of government.’
And the Nairn MSP has never been shy about his disapproval of the progressive direction the SNP has moved in recent years. He sums up his approach to politics: ‘Am I an Inverness man in Holyrood? Or am I an SNP apologist in Inverness?’ He backed now-deputy FM Kate Forbes for the leadership as an admirer of her own religious background and socially conservative views. In the days when pro-independence party Alba was a little more vocal, Ewing suggested that it was only Forbes who would be able to heal the wounds of the Yes movement, and bring pro-indy supporters back into the fold. Perhaps – if he’s successful next year – Forbes will ensure he’s not entirely excluded from the fold. Of course this depends firstly on whether Ewing’s bid is successful. It’s hard to run and win as an independent candidate – although famously Margo McDonald proved it could be done after the SNP. And after winning his constituents’ trust in every single Holyrood election since the creation of the Scottish parliament, Ewing might just manage it.
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