THE SNP's newly elected deputy leader has been criticised after it emerged he will speak today at the same pro-Yes event as disgraced former MSP Tommy Sheridan.

Dundee MP Stewart Hosie and Sheridan will address a rally in the city organised to boost the cross-party independence movement.

However, a Nationalist source was scathing of Hosie's decision, saying: "He needs his head examined."

Sheridan, the co-convener of ­Solidarity, was jailed in 2011 for three years after being found guilty of perjury.

A jury ruled that he lied about his attendance at a swingers' club in Manchester in an earlier defamation case involving a now-defunct tabloid newspaper.

Despite his conviction, ­Sheridan tried to reinvent himself as a "patriot" during the referendum campaign and embarked on a nationwide tour urging a Yes vote.

He has also tried to cosy up to the SNP by urging voters to back the Nationalists at next year's General Election.

Today's Yes rally starts at Albert Square in Dundee, after which a massed pipe band will lead the parade. The main event will be held at Fat Sams nightclub.

Hosie and Sheridan are among 12 speakers scheduled to attend.

Cash raised will go to local groups such as Yes We Care, which holds food collections in the city.

However, Hosie's presence at the event has angered some of his party colleagues, who believe Sheridan is a toxic figure who cannot be trusted.

When the BBC put ­Sheridan forward as an independence supporter in 2012, the then SNP Finance Secretary, John Swinney, angrily said: "Is it just me, or is anyone else surprised that, miraculously, in the midst of the SNP conference, the BBC have managed to provide a platform for the rehabilitation of Tommy Sheridan as an independence advocate?

"A man who has no political credibility whatsoever - none ­whatsoever. Not even political credibility, no credibility in terms of the judgments made by the courts of the land. But, miraculously, last night ... that appears. What's that about?"

SNP councillors in Glasgow also boycotted the All Scotland Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation over Sheridan's involvement.

One senior SNP source said: "We've got over 90,000 members, so why is Hosie now speaking at the same event with Tommy? It's totally unnecessary. He needs his head examined."

A second insider accused Hosie, who was elected as deputy leader this month, of a "misjudgment".

Despite continuing as a Yes campaigner, Sheridan appears to be turning his back on elected politics in the short term.

In a tweet to his followers, he stated: "For the record Solidarity will support any genuine anti-­austerity pro-independence electoral alliance next May but I will NOT be a candidate." Asked why he would not stand, he said: "Maximum unity behind the independence & anti-austerity cause is primary ... I am often divisive. I'm stepping back."

An SNP spokeswoman said Hosie was keen to help an event that aided foodbanks in Dundee, adding: "Stewart will speak in the afternoon while Tommy Sheridan will be there earlier in the day."

Deb Brown, the organiser of today's event, said of Sheridan: "He's a Yes man. That's all I concern myself with."