Fergus Ewing rules out standing for SNP in 2026 election – but may run as independent

SNP veteran-turned-rebel Fergus Ewing has said he will not stand for the party again in the 2026 Holyrood elections.

However, the former cabinet secretary did not rule out running for the parliament in the 2026 elections as an independent – and said he does not intend to quit the party.

Speaking to the Press and Journal, Ewing said that he felt unable to defend the SNP's record “on the pledges to dual the A9 and A96 – both so vital for my constituency".

The SNP have pledged to fully dual the A96, which runs from Inverness to Aberdeen, despite a review concluding against it in November last year. 

The A9, which runs from Stirling to Thurso, is currently being dualled but has been hit with delays and missed targets. 

“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,” he told the Press and Journal.

“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.”

Ewing, the son of SNP grandee Winnie Ewing, represents the Inverness and Nairn constituency at Holyrood. 

His sister, Annabelle Ewing, is deputy presiding officer in the Parliament and has said she will not be standing in 2026.

Ewing said it was with “great sadness” that he had decided he could not stand for the SNP again. “I have wrestled with my conscience for perhaps too long,” he said.

SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing (Image: NQ) “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 rebelled against the SNP leadership on a range of issues, most prominently since the power-sharing agreement was struck with the Greens. 

He was suspended from the SNP in 2023 after voting against now-former Green minister Lorna Slater's position.

His voting record has seen scrutiny of whether the SNP will allow him to stand on their ticket in the 2026 elections, but Ewing told the Press and Journal his constituents did not want a "nest of fearties" as MSPs.