Swinney refuses to say if rebel Ewing should run in 2026 Holyrood election

John Swinney has refused to say if rebel backbencher Fergus Ewing should stand for the SNP in next year’s Holyrood election.

The SNP leader and Scottish First Minister would only state that “democratic processes” were currently underway in local party branches to choose candidates.

And Mr Swinney said: “It is not for me as party leader to interfere with those processes.”

His comments came after widespread reports over the weekend that the party could block Mr Ewing – son of the late, trailblazing SNP politician Winnie Ewing – from standing  in the Inverness and Nairn seat he currently holds next May.

A former Scottish Government minister, Mr Ewing has been a vocal critic of the SNP in power now he is on the backbenches at Holyrood.

He defied party whips to vote against then Green minister Lorna Slater in a motion of no confidence – with this resulting in him being temporarily suspended from the SNP group at Holyrood.

In addition to this, he has criticised the Government on a variety of issues ranging from gender recognition reforms to the delays on dualling the A9 road between Perth and Inverness.

Asked about whether Mr Ewing, who has been an MSP since 1999, would be permitted to stand, Mr Swinney stated: “I don’t comment on the individual selection processes that are underway within the Scottish National Party.

“There is a democratic process for undertaking that work, the party processes will take their course and we will all hear the outcome of those processes.”

Mr Swinney added: “I think it is important we just leave the democratic processes to their course, and it is not for me as party leader to interfere with those processes.”