Troublemaking isn’t confined these days to the SNP’s Westminster group. It seems that nationalists north of the border have got the bug for insurrection too. Fergus Ewing, SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn, has revealed that there is a ‘toxic atmosphere amongst the SNP group in Holyrood’ and that he doesn’t think the Nats stand a chance of winning another indyref just now thanks to the party’s ‘extremist’ policies. The son of late nationalist legend Winnie Ewing told the Holyrood Sources podcast that things are not all hunky dory in Edinburgh:
The atmosphere in Holyrood is not particularly happy now within the SNP group. There’s many people in the cabinet and the leadership that haven’t uttered a word to me or vice versa for well over a year.
Ewing hinted too at his contempt for one group of politicians in particular:
The most serious thing that Humza should do, in my opinion, is to detach himself from this dalliance with the Greens… and win back the trust and confidence of people whose votes we used to get in rural and highland Scotland.
Steerpike isn’t entirely surprised at Ewing’s revelations. The MSP has made a name for himself as a ‘rebel’ backbencher, staging a series of fiery interventions this year alone. Mr S would remind readers that this is the man who, in parliament, physically ripped up proposals (backed by, you guessed it, those pesky Greens) that would result in ‘catastrophic’ fishing bans for coastal Scotland. In his latest attack on his own party, Ewing branded the SNP government’s delays to dualling one of Scotland’s most dangerous roads a ‘betrayal to the Highlands’.
And the veteran nationalist upset the apple cart last month after he voted in favour of a no confidence motion in Scottish government minister and Green co-leader Lorna Slater. Slater’s deposit return scheme was described by Ewing as ‘fatally and irremediably flawed’. ‘The minister with responsibility for the scheme,’ he wrote after the vote, ‘does not enjoy the confidence of business.’ Ouch.
Does Ewing wish things were more amicable in Holyrood? ‘Frankly, I don’t give a damn,’ he snapped on the pod. ‘I’m not there for a social club.’ You don’t half show it, Fergus. Surprisingly, Yousaf appears to be keeping the peace for once, telling journalists today that he will not be suspending Ewing for his rather, er, scathing remarks…
The Scottish parliament is enjoying its summer recess, but Ewing is certainly not taking a break from criticising his failing party. ‘My job, frankly, is to exert maximum possible pressure on everybody,’ he thundered. ‘Whether they’re in my party or any other party is of no consequence to me.’
Will there be more nationalist nastiness to come? Watch this space…
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