To Scotland, where the Holyrood exodus continues. Now SNP veteran Fergus Ewing – son of Winnie Ewing, one of the first nationalist politicians to be elected to Westminster – has announced that he will not stand for the party at the 2026 election. But on whether he will leave frontline politics altogether, Ewing is less sure – with the Inverness and Nairn politician suggesting he could stand as an independent candidate to rival his party. How very interesting…
As reported by the Press and Journal, Ewing has announced that he will not stand as an SNP candidate next year, saying that he ‘cannot defend the lack of delivery’ by his party on key issues. It is with ‘great sadness’ that he won’t stand for the Nats again, Ewing told the paper, adding:
I have wrestled with my conscience for perhaps too long. I am afraid I cannot defend the record of the SNP on the pledges to dual the A9 and A96 – both so vital for my constituency. The key issue for me as a constituency MSP is delivery on the promises both I and my party have made at election after election. Unless substantial and significant progress is made before next March on both dualled road projects, I may consider standing next year as an independent candidate. I will set out in due course what that progress should reasonably entail.
The SNP is just no longer the party for all of Scotland, as it has been for most of my 50 years as a member. The party can change and, in my opinion, must do so. That is why I am not simply standing down now from the SNP group. I honour my own party membership, which I was born into and which is part of my very soul.
Ewing has been a longtime critic of his own party on a variety of issues, from the delayed A9 dualling project to the ferries fiasco to the SNP’s stance on oil and gas. In fact, the veteran Nat so outraged his party after he voted against the government during then-junior minister Lorna Slater’s confidence motion that he was suspended in 2023. And even though Ewing is stepping down from his job next year, his threatening to stand as an independent suggests he’s not finished causing trouble for those pesky Nats just yet. Stay tuned…
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