HUMZA Yousaf has defended the expulsion of MP Angus MacNeil from the SNP, saying the party’s politicians can’t “pick and choose” whether to be in it.
The Western Isles MP was initially suspended from the party's Westminster group for a week in July after clashing with chief whip Brendan O'Hara.
He then refused to rejoin and said he would sit as an independent MP until October, calling the party “clueless” about independence for good measure.
The party's SNP conduct committee last night discussed his case and Mr MacNeil, 53, later tweeted saying he has been expelled after being an SNP MP since 2005.
He tweeted the news using a kangaroo emoji to refer to the committee as a kangaroo court.
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He wrote: “The Summer of Member Expulsion has indeed come to pass.
“As I have been expelled as a rank & file SNP member by a ‘member conduct committee.’
“]I didn't leave the SNP - the SNP have left me. I wish they were as bothered about independence as they are about me.”
Speaking to broadcaster Iain Dale at the All Talk show on the Edinburgh Fringe, Mr Yousaf was asked whether expulsion had been the right move.
He said: “I don’t understand this point about ‘the SNP left me’ – he literally left the SNP.
“He literally wrote a public statement that said ‘I’m not going to take the whip, I’m not going to rejoin the SNP group’.
“Regardless of your longevity as an MP or your service within the SNP, if you’re elected as an SNP MP, it’s not for you to decide that you stop becoming an SNP MP.
“Your constituents elected you on the party ticket, that’s why you got in. For you to simply say ‘Well I’ll make a decision on when I’ll join the SNP, when I’ll take the whip, when I’m part of the group’ – that has consequences.
“Ultimately that decision was taken by our member conduct committee, that committee is elected by our membership, and ultimately they made the decision they made last night.
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“I was informed about it after that meeting had taken place, and I absolutely stand by that decision. It is absolutely the right thing to do.
“Angus Brendan MacNeil should be held to the same standard I would be held to as an elected politician within the SNP.
“That’s not one where we can pick and choose when we decide to be SNP MPs or MSPs.”
Mr Yousaf also took a swipe at Alex Salmond’s Alba party, saying that if they truly wanted a united Yes movement, they should stop attacking the SNP.
He said around 90% of Alba’s press releases seemed to be aimed at the SNP, and they would be better turning their fire on the opponents of independence, not the principal vehicle for achieving it.
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