MP Angus MacNeil expelled from SNP after saying party 'clueless' about independence

MP Angus MacNeil has announced he has been expelled from the SNP after being suspended from the Westminster group last month.

MacNeil had the party whip suspended in July following a heated row with the party’s chief whip Brendan O’Hara, whom he accused of bullying.

The Na h-Eileanan an Iar MP later announced he would not be rejoining the party but would sit as an independent MP.

The SNP conduct committee met on Thursday and MacNeil later announced he had been expelled.

Posting on Twitter, he said: “The Summer of Member Expulsion, has indeed come to pass.

“As I have been expelled as a rank & file SNP member by a ‘member conduct committee.’

“I didn’t leave the SNP – the SNP have left me,” he added. “I wish they were as bothered about independence as they are about me!”

His post was accompanied by a kangaroo emoji in an apparent reference to the conduct committee.

MacNeil, who was one of the SNP’s longest serving MPs, was first elected in 2005.

He has been a vocal critic of the party leadership, particularly with regards to the strategy towards Scottish independence.

Commenting an SNP spokesperson said: “Following his decision to resign from the SNP Westminster Parliamentary Group, and therefore no longer sit as an SNP MP, the unanimous decision of the SNP’s Member Conduct Committee is that a breach of the code of conduct has occurred and Angus MacNeil MP has been expelled from the Party.

“Mr MacNeil was given the opportunity to rejoin the group, and subsequently chose not to attend the hearing.”