SNP’S Gray insists bid for Holyrood seat is backed by staff who could lose jobs

AN SNP MP has applied to stand for Holyrood despite potentially putting his staff out of work – something some of his colleagues have refused to do on principle.

Neil Gray is putting himself forward for the SNP candidacy in Airdrie & Shotts after a warning it was something “only MPS who are happy to see their staff jobless” would do.

The move follows the seat’s MSP Alex Neil announcing he will stand down at the 2021 election.

Mr Gray, his party’s Work and Pensions spokesman, is the first SNP MP to try to move to Holyrood since the party’s ruling body changed the rules to make it harder to switch parliaments.

If Mr Gray is picked by local members as their candidate, he will have to quit his Westminster seat, which is also called Airdrie & Shotts, putting his staff out of work.

If elected to Holyrood next May – Mr Neil had a solid majority of 6192 over Labour in 2016 – Mr Gray could re-hire his staff, however, that would depend on the voters.

In his announcement, Mr Gray said of the coming election: “We cannot take anything for granted.”

Last month, Mr Gray attacked the UK Government for risking “mass redundancies” by ending its coronavirus furlough scheme and urged it to take “bold action” to keep unemployment down.

Mr Gray said his decision was fully supported by his staff. He said: “This has been a difficult decision and I have consulted my staff, who have been an incredible support to me my entire time in Westminster. They support my decision and have encouraged me to stand.”

When the SNP’S National Executive Committee changed the rules last month to require MPS to give up their seats before moving to Holyrood, it was widely seen as an attempt to stop MP Joanna Cherry QC switching to Holyrood. Ms Cherry, who is close to Alex Salmond, had wanted to stand in Edinburgh Central, putting her in a fight for the candidacy with Nicola Sturgeon’s ally, Angus Robertson.

Pulling out of the candidate selection, Ms Cherry, the Edinburgh South West MP said: “It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.”

Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman, the former SNP deputy leader at Westminster, said: “Asking SNP MPS to do this effectively means that only MPS who are happy to see their staff jobless will be able to stand for Holyrood. This is because their MP staff would no longer have a job either for the interim period or if the MP doesn’t get elected as an MSP.”

Mr Gray, 34, was first elected as an MP in 2015 and had a majority of 5,201 over Labour at the last general election.

Also bidding for the SNP candidacy for Airdrie & Shotts at Holyrood is Airdrie South councillor Paul Di Mascio.