John Swinney says SNP does not have a woman problem as 14 female MSPs won't seek re-election

Scotland’s First Minister has said his party does not have an issue with women despite two thirds of the MSPs to announce they will not stand again being female.

As of Monday, 21 sitting MSPs have announced they will not seek re-election at next year’s election, including former first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, with 14 of those being women.

But speaking to the PA news agency in Edinburgh on Monday, John Swinney said the issue was wider than just the SNP and there were “big issues” with how women in politics are treated.

Asked if the party had a woman issue, the First Minister said: “No, I don’t think that.

“I think there are some big issues about how women feel in public life because of the amount of abuse that’s hurled about.

“We had a classic example of it, last week, from Russell Findlay at First Minister’s Questions, where he used four questions to, basically, hurl abuse at a woman.”

The Scottish Tory leader used his questions at the weekly session on Thursday to attack the record of Sturgeon, which he described as a “vast back catalogue of failure”.

The First Minister added that he was “very pleased” with the female candidates in his party who are seeking election next year.

“I want to give every signal I possibly can do, I want to encourage women to participate in public life and in politics and to come forward for election and for us to benefit from their contribution,” he said.

The party has already seen 21 MSPs say they will not stand again next year, including some current and former cabinet ministers.

As well as Sturgeon and Yousaf, current cabinet secretaries Shona Robison, Fiona Hyslop and Mairi Gougeon will stand down, as will junior ministers Natalie Don-Innes, Graeme Dey, Richard Lochhead and Christin McKelvie – who is currently on leave receiving cancer treatment.

Former health secretary Michael Matheson, who resigned after a months-long saga over a near-£11,000 iPad bill racked up by his children while on holiday, announced he would not seek re-election on Sunday.

But despite the exodus from the SNP benches, the party’s chief whip in Westminster, Kirsty Blackman, said there was a “huge amount of talent among proposed candidates”.

Many of those looking to stand, as was reported by the PA news agency on Friday, are current and former MPs, including Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.