Fraud-charge MP McGarry rules out standing for re-election in ‘wonderful’ Glasgow East

THE Glasgow East MP Natalie McGarry will not stand for re-election.

Ms McGarry won her seat for the SNP in 2015 but was later suspended by the party.

She was charged last year with fraud offences relating to the Women For Independence group and the SNP’s Glasgow Regional Association.

The SNP hierarchy decided on Saturday not to endorse the 35-year-old as a candidate in the General Election.

She could have stood as an Independent in June, a move that could have come with a £2,000 pay-off from the Commons, but yesterday she ruled that out.

On her Facebook page, Ms McGarry said it had been a “huge honour and privilege” to have served the people of Glasgow East for the past two years.

“I have, however, decided not to seek re-election and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many, many local people who have helped and supported me.”

She added: “In the forthcoming election, I would encourage all the political parties and candidates to respect the electorate of Glasgow East and stay focused on what the people of this wonderful constituency need; an MP who opposes Tory austerity, who will fight the tax credit cap, including the pernicious rape clause, will stand against the savage cuts to our social security system and who will fight to bring more jobs and opportunities to the East End.”

Ms McGarry, who is the niece of the former Holyrood Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick, revealed last week she was pregnant with her first child after collapsing in the Commons.

The former SNP MP Michelle Thomson, who was suspended amid a police investigation into property deals last year, has also confirmed she will not stand again in Edinburgh West.

Meanwhile, voters in the Borders face a Holyrood by-election on the same day as the General Election, after the Tory MSP John Lamont resigned to stand for Westminster. Mr Lamont was selected for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk in June.

His decision leaves a vacancy in Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, which he won by 7,736 votes in 2016.