Nationalist MP damns SNP as ‘toxic, aggressive and hostile’
A FORMER Nationalist MP who quit the party to join Alex Salmond’s Alba has branded his former colleagues ‘toxic, aggressive and hostile’.
Neale Hanvey yesterday claimed the SNP was ‘really uncomfortable’ and its politicians were not allowed to ‘have a critical mind’ or debate.
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP left the SNP to stand for Alba in the Scottish parliament election but it failed to secure any MSPs.
Mr Hanvey will return to Westminster as an MP but will not rejoin the SNP. He told Fife Free Press he was heartbroken to leave the party but ‘detested’ what it has become.
He said: ‘You are not allowed to have a critical mind. There is no place for debate. It is policy by diktat. It is a really uncomfortable place.’
Mr Hanvey was elected to Westminster in 2019 but initially became an independent MP after the SNP suspended him during the campaign.
It came after he apologised for antiSemitic language in a social media post he had shared years earlier.
As his name was already on the ballot for the SNP, he had to stand for the party. It readmitted him last year following a six-month suspension.
Mr Hanvey said he was unhappy with his MP colleagues’ conduct.
He said: ‘It was frustrating to see how many of the SNP cohort were far too comfy with Westminster life – that really galled me. What motivates me is seeing too many people in poverty – not a fancy flat in London.’
Mr Hanvey defected from the SNP to Alba, alongside MP Kenny MacAskill, after Mr Salmond said in March he would lead the new pro-independence party fighting for regional list seats at the Scottish parliament election. The MPs will now sit as members of Alba.
Mr Hanvey said the decision to quit was ‘unfortunately, not that difficult’.
He added: ‘I could not continue in a Westminster parliamentary group that was so aggressive and hostile I did not think it was good for my physical and mental health.
‘You have to watch everything you say. If you are not loyal, and by that they mean obedient, you are targeted.’
Mr Hanvey also revealed he suffered from stress after being sacked from the frontbench role of vaccine spokesman within days of being appointed.
He said: ‘I had damaged an optic nerve through stress.’
Mr Hanvey said he would not trigger a by-election but leave it to voters to judge him when the next general election takes place.
He added: ‘If they are expecting me to remain in the SNP, they are asking me to stay in a toxic environment that was actively damaging my health.’ The SNP declined to comment. Last night, a spokesman for Mr Hanvey said: ‘In a wide-ranging discussion, Neale reflected on some of the very challenging issues he faced latterly as a member of the SNP Westminster Group. He is happy to now sit as an Alba MP.’
‘You are targeted if not obedient’