Angus Robertson takes on Joanna Cherry in battle for seat

The opening shots in the battle between two of the SNP’s biggest hitters for a Holyrood seat have been fired as Angus Robertson takes on Joanna Cherry for Edinburgh Central.

A tweet by Mr Robertson was interpreted as a swipe at Ms Cherry when he said the SNP needed a “full time” candidate just hours after his rival announced she was also seeking the party’s nomination to fight the seat.

Ms Cherry is the MP for Edinburgh South West. Mr Robertson, the SNP’s former Westminster leader, lost the Moray constituency in the House of Commons in the 2017 general election.

Mr Robertson’s insistence that a full-time candidate is required for the SNP has been viewed as a dig at Ms Cherry on the basis that if her nomination were to succeed she would be fighting the Holyrood seat while holding a Westminster seat.

But Ms Cherry released her own statement on Twitter saying that if she wins the nomination she would stand down as an MP and not serve the full Westminster term, a course of action that would trigger a by-election.

The fight has been portrayed as a battle for the soul of the SNP, with Ms Cherry representing those in the party who favour a more radical approach to achieving an independence referendum than the one being offered by Nicola Sturgeon.

Ms Cherry is seen as being close to Alex Salmond and has called for a so-called “wild-cat” independence referendum without Westminster permission. Mr Robertson announced that he hoped to stand in Edinburgh Central a few days before Ms Cherry threw her hat into the ring.

There has been speculation that the rivals are trying to manoeuvre their way into Holyrood to position themselves as successors to Nicola Sturgeon.