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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Andrew Quinn

Senior SNP MP denies there is a split in the Westminster group

A senior SNP MP has denied there is a split in the party's Westminster group after one of his colleagues was suspended.

Stewart Hosie said Angus MacNeil's suspension was "not indicative of anything wider than an unfortunate falling out".

MacNeil was suspended from the SNP's Westminster group for a week on Wednesday after he accused chief whip Brendan O'Hara of bullying.

The pair had a public clash in the House of Commons division lobbies over MacNeil missing key parliamentary votes to go on a £7,000 paid trip to Qatar in May.

MacNeil then referred to O'Hara as a "bully" on Twitter, causing Westminster group leader Stephen Flynn to suspend him.

But Hosie, who was elected to the House of Commons in 2005 alongside MacNeil, played down the incident.

He told the BBC's Sunday Show: “I think there were some intemperate words used let it put it no more strongly than that.

"So the thing we need to do now is frankly put this behind us and move on together.

"And no, it's not indicative of anything wider than an unfortunate falling out."

MacNeil has been a vocal critic of the party leadership in recent years. He regularly spoke out against Nicola Sturgeon and this has continued since Humza Yousaf took over the party leadership.

He is said to be a close ally of Alex Salmond and was rumoured to be potentially joining the party when two SNP MPs defected in 2021.

Ex-SNP deputy leader Hosie is one of six SNP MPs who have announced that they are standing down at the next election. Among these are former Westminster leader Ian Blackford and current deputy leader of the group Mhairi Black.

Black called Westminster "toxic" and "poisonous" when she said she would stand down last week.

Hosie said of Black's decision: "Speaking to female colleagues, they suffer from it far, far, far more than I think the men do, particularly the level of misogynistic abuse, you know, the rape threats.

"It's quite intolerable and it's really not the way politics, however robust, should be."

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