SNP 'intellectually dead from the neck up' claims party's own MP
SNP MP Joanna Cherry has claimed her own party is "intellectually dead from the neck up" in a scathing attack
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The SNP is “intellectually dead from the neck up” and “afraid of debate”, a senior nationalist MP has claimed.
Joanna Cherry, who previously served as the SNP’s justice spokesperson in Westminster, lamented her own colleagues after she was cancelled from appearing at an Edinburgh Fringe Festival event.
The Edinburgh South West MP was axed from the line-up after staff expressed concerns about Cherry’s views on transgender rights.
Cherry, a gender-critical lesbian, warned debate within the SNP has been “frowned upon, rubbished and marginalised”.
Humza Yousaf succeeded Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and First Minister
PAShe said: “People don't necessarily know that my SNP roots go back quite a long way.
“There are many elements of the way in which some people in the SNP behave now, which I don't think belongs to the SNP tradition.
“People forget that the SNP was founded in the 1930s by intellectuals, artists, poets, thinkers, former diplomats like Compton Mackenzie, people with a rich hinterland.
“And I think there's an awful lot of people in the SNP just now who don't like debate, are afraid of debate and hostile to it and very insecure in their beliefs.”
Cherry added: “I'm absolutely determined to [remain in the party] because I think a small cohort of people have gone out of their way to try and make it as difficult for me to stay as possible.
"And I feel that I've sort of outlived those, I've outlived and outstayed those efforts.
"And I'm looking forward to a different sort of future as we move away from the years of a very closed, inward looking leadership and get back to having a more collegiate style of leadership, which I'm hoping will happen under Humza [Yousaf].”
The 57-year-old even linked the SNP’s failed pursuit of independence with the internal row.
SNP's Joanna Cherry cancelled after woke staff revolt over her trans rights views
PACherry, who opposed Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Bill, claimed: “It's a sort of intellectual failure.
“The party's intellectually dead from the neck up at the moment. It has not been allowed to have an intellectual debate for years. It's been frowned upon, rubbished, marginalised.”
Despite also claiming the transgender debacle was a betrayal of the 89-year-old party, Cherry revealed she is sticking with the party.
SNP MP Pete Wishart dismissed Cherry’s outburst, saying: “Maybe most of us just profoundly disagree with her, and believe that making the lives of one of the most marginal and abused minorities in our community just a bit more tolerable is something worth doing.”
Alex Salmond offered his support to Joanna Cherry
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But Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf said on Thursday that he hoped “there is a way of Jo’s show going ahead.”
He added: “Jo and I have a disagreement around the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, for example, but at the same time, I do hope there's a way that her show can go ahead.”
Despite receiving criticisms from some corners of the SNP, Cherry obtained the backing of ex-First Minister Alex Salmond.
He claimed his former SNP colleague was treated “shamefully”, adding: “People have the right to put forward an alternative view.”
Cherry intended to use her Edinburgh Fringe appearance to talk about her career in politics, Scottish independence and her feminist views
PASalmond, who fell out with his Bute House successor Nicola Sturgeon, set up the Alba Party in an attempt to outflank the SNP with an even more hardline stance on Scottish independence.
East Lothian MP Kenny MacAskill and Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath MP Neale Hanvey defected from the SNP to Salmond’s party in 2021.
But Alba failed to make any inroads in the last set of Holyrood elections, receiving less than 45,000 votes.