SNP rebel Ewing is a voice of reason in an extremist regime

The veteran Scottish Nationalist MSP Fergus Ewing has had a second stay of execution. Facing suspension from the party over repeated rebellions, he has apparently gone down with Covid, stalling any decision on his fate until next week.

An act of defiance in June by the MSP for Inverness and Nairn led to initial calls for his expulsion from the SNP but the death of his mother, legendary nationalist politician Winnie Ewing, on June 21 put his punishment on hold.

His crime then was to back a Conservative vote of no-confidence in the Scottish Green MSP and Minister for the Circular Economy Lorna Slater over her botched deposit return scheme. 

Under the power sharing Bute House agreement signed in the summer of 2021, SNP members are expected to support their Green colleagues. But Ewing has led criticism of the deal, forged by Nicola Sturgeon to prop up her minority government, and describes the Scottish Greens as ‘extremists’.

The long-serving MSP’s latest outrage was voting against the government in a move to delay the short-term lets licensing scheme, which opponents say will hurt the tourism industry, cost the economy £133 million and see 7,000 jobs lost.

Next week, SNP MSPs will meet to decide what disciplinary action to take against the former cabinet minister, who has served in Sturgeon’s and Alex Salmond’s governments.

It is expected that he will lose the party whip temporarily, a move that certainly won’t silence the politician who has become the biggest thorn in First Minister Humza Yousaf’s side, but one that could prove to be dangerous for the SNP.

For a party that has maintained iron discipline for most of its years in power, the end of the Sturgeon era has brought a renaissance of sorts, but not one that party leaders will welcome.

Old school Nationalists such as Ewing, a popular constituency MSP, have felt uncomfortable within the far-left culture of Sturgeon’s SNP, particularly as it came increasingly under the influence of the even more zealous Greens.

But in government, Ewing mostly toed the party line. Freed from such constraints as a backbencher, he has wasted no time in making his views known and airing the concerns of what is surely mainstream Scottish opinion.

He has opposed the SNP government on no less than five occasions, always on issues that reflect an out of touch administration trying to impose its agenda on a bewildered public.

On top of the deposit return scheme, an ill-judged recycling initiative that would have clobbered retailers and which was eventually halted by Westminster, Ewing has been outspoken against the controversial Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) policy,

Another sketchy plan dreamt up in a parallel Green universe, this aimed to shut down all activity in ten per cent of Scottish waters, going much further than English marine conservation measures and uniting Scotland’s coastal communities in a furious backlash.

Ewing, whose last ministerial responsibilities as rural economy secretary included fishing and fish farming, sensationally tore up the HPMA consultation document during a heated parliamentary session.

That flagship Bute House policy has also now gone back to the drawing board, a win for the campaign supercharged by Ewing.

He has also been vociferous, on behalf of his own constituents, in the row over the dualling of the A9, which must class as one of the biggest failures of governance after the SNP admitted this year that its commitment to complete the project by 2025 was ‘unachievable’.

The political will to dual the often lethal stretch of road between Perth and Inverness has been lacking, and Ewing said the SNP did not deserve to be in government if progress was not made over the next year.

He again blamed the Scottish Greens, notoriously resistant to road building, for the government’s failings, saying: “I think there is growing concern that the green tail is wagging the yellow dog. And that is prevalent everywhere I go in my constituency.”

Most controversially of all, Ewing rebelled against the SNP/Green Gender Recognition Act which would have made it possible to change gender without a medical diagnosis, threatening women’s rights.

He was one of a group of SNP MSPs who opposed the bill in a then unprecedented act of defiance against the government. The legislation, though passed by a Holyrood majority, is now in abeyance, having been blocked by Westminster as a breach of UK equality laws.

Throughout the past few months, Ewing has emerged as a voice of reason against a backdrop of SNP and Green lunacy, speaking up for disgruntled voters, on whichever side of the independence debate, more eloquently than opposition parties (some of which voted with the SNP on Gender Recognition Reform).

Earlier this month, Ewing was named MSP of the Year by the influential Holyrood magazine at its annual awards ceremony, a mark of respect for an SNP outlier at a time when the party has lost its momentum and its way.

Next month, the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election to replace the disgraced SNP MP Margaret Ferrier is tipped to go to Labour. Postal votes for the by-election, on October 5, will be sent out on Friday next week.

A big swing to Labour will be a disaster for Yousaf as he struggles to assert his authority over his party. The last thing he needs is a high-profile critic in his own ranks undermining his main policy areas and resonating with the electorate by calling out the more radical ideology of his Green contingent.

Ewing is not alone in his rebellion and while not seen as a direct challenge to Yousaf, he is a rallying point around which other dissident Nats, and those with minds of their own (including the leadership runner-up Kate Forbes), can gather. In losing the party whip he will only gain more strength.

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