SNP veteran Fergus Ewing may run as independent

SNP veteran Fergus Ewing has announced he will not stand for the party at next year's Holyrood election - but may run as an independent.

Ewing has represented Inverness and Nairn since 1999, and previously served as rural affairs secretary in government.

The 67-year-old said the SNP was part of his very soul but that it needed to change as it was "no longer the party for all of Scotland".

He has been increasingly at odds with his party over slow progress in dualling the A9 and A96 roads, and said he may stand as an independent candidate unless "substantial progress" is made.

Ewing told BBC News he had been elected eight times with his party pledging action to make these roads safer but those promises had been broken.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, he said: "I cannot defend the indefensible.

"I cannot stand before people and defend the record which I'm afraid is one of failure on the key promises made to my constituents and the Highlands."

The Scottish government has said it remains committed to dualling both the A9 and A96, but the timetable for both projects has slipped.

Transport Scotland said it had now completed the final stage of the process to acquire land for the A96 scheme, and ownership would be transferred next month.

SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney posted on X that he was sorry to learn of Ewing's decision, describing him as a "faithful servant" of his constituents who had contributed much to the Scottish Parliament.

He added: "I said I would be the first minister for all of Scotland and that is what I will do."

Ewing has been at odds with the SNP leadership over a number of issues including the deposit return scheme, gender recognition reform, marine protected areas and what he perceives as a lack of support for the oil and gas industry.

He defied party whips to vote against then Green minister Lorna Slater in a motion of no confidence in 2023 - with this resulting in him being temporarily suspended from the SNP group at Holyrood.

But he said the lack of progress on dualling the key trunk roads was the main reason for his decision.

"They are literally a matter of life and death. I've lost three friends on the A9," he said.

"I think it's not an exaggeration to say that in many cases when a member of one's family travel up or down the A9 or the A96, they worry about whether they'll be safe."

He said he was also worried the Scottish government was preparing to ditch a pledge to fully dual the A96 even though £100m had been spent on the project already without a "centimetre" of road surfacing having being laid.

Fergus Ewing is the son of Winnie Ewing, whose 1967 by-election victory in Hamilton was a historic breakthrough for the SNP, and the brother of Cowdenbeath MSP Annabelle Ewing.

He was first elected to the Scottish Parliament when it was re-established in 1999 and held a ministerial portfolio for 14 years in the governments of both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

In a separate statement issued to local newspapers he said he would remain in the SNP for now and remained committed to independence which he saw as a "cause unwon" but not lost.

"We can regain the trust of the people that we built up during the successful Salmond years," he wrote

"Over the past four years, the sad reality is we have lost much of that trust and support."

The Scottish government pledged into 2011 to upgrade 86 miles (138km) of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen to dual carriageway by 2030,but last year it confirmed this would be delayed.

As part of the Bute House power sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens, it had agreed to a review of the A96 corridor plan to include climate change compatibility.

A consultation on the review ended last month and the responses are being considered, but the government says it currently favours dualling the full route.

The upgrade of the Inverness to Nairn section is separate from the review, and has already received ministerial consent.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: "As the transport secretary has made clear, the position of the Scottish government has not changed.

"The current favoured position is to fully dual the A96 and we are already starting the dualling process from Inverness to Nairn, including a Nairn Bypass."

Work to upgrade the A9 between Inverness and Perth has long been a SNP manifesto pledge and was once expected to be completed this year - but that has also been put back, to 2035.