FIRST Minister John Swinney has declined to back his former Cabinet colleague Fergus Ewing amid questions about whether he can stand for the SNP in the 2026 elections.
The SNP leader would only state that “democratic processes” were currently underway in local party branches to choose candidates.
Swinney added: “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 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 Cabinet secretary, 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, he has criticised the Scottish 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 Ewing, who has been an MSP since 1999, would be permitted to stand, 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.”
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.”
