Humza Yousaf dismisses Keith Brown's Westminster withdrawal idea

SNP depute leader Keith Brown floated the idea of withdrawal in a newspaper column

First Minister Humza Yousaf has dismissed suggestions that SNP MPs would withdraw from Westminster after the next general election.

He said the party's MPs would "stand up for Scotland" and "advance the case for independence" if elected.

He was responding to questions after his deputy, Keith Brown MSP, floated the idea in a weekend newspaper column.

Mr Brown wrote that the issue of taking up seats needed to be "re-examined" in the wake of the Gaza vote controversy.

The SNP group in Westminster was reported to be considering a campaign of "disengagement" with day-to-day parliamentary activities, following a breakdown in relations between the party and the House of Commons Speaker over an SNP debate about Gaza.

However, the party's leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, later denied that the SNP was planning to disengage.

• SNP accuses Speaker of 'effectively lying' on debate

• Speaker rejects SNP call for emergency Gaza debate

• How the row over Commons Speaker unfolded

The idea was raised again, however, by a senior member of the party at the weekend.

In his column in the Sunday National, Mr Brown, the party's depute leader, wrote that is was time for the SNP to "examine whether it is right to confer any legitimacy on an institution determined to deny democracy in Scotland."

He added: "Some have believed for many years that Scotland should withdraw from Westminster, while others believe it is necessary to be there, to make arguments on Scotland's behalf, to promote and protect Scotland's interests. I have tended to agree with this.

"But when the institution can so easily be manipulated to thwart Scotland's representatives, the issue needs, in my view, to be re-examined".

The idea was quickly dismissed by Mr Brown's colleagues.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was attacked by SNP MPs for his handling of a debate on Gaza

Deputy First Minister Shona Robison told BBC Scotland's Sunday Show that she was unaware of MPs talking about leaving Westminster.

"I think our SNP parliamentary group at Westminster has an important role to play in leading on issues like, for example, Gaza when they brought forward a debate that recognised, for example, the need for an immediate ceasefire and talked about the collective punishment of millions of people, and I think that is where the SNP is at its best, on leading on these issues," she said.

"There is a debate to be had in terms of the role of our parliamentary group but for my perspective they are best when they are highlighting key important issues and leading from the front, as they have been doing on the issue of Gaza for example."

And the first minister used the social media platform X to make his position clear.

Mr Brown later appeared to row back from his own column with his now own post.

Speaking on Monday, the first minister said he and Mr Brown had a good relationship where they talk regularly, and said his deputy was "absolutely on board".

"You saw even from his social media messaging yesterday he's very, very clear that for the general election our message is a pretty simple one. Vote for your SNP MP so we can send them to Westminster to stand up for Scotland," he said.

He added: "Keith's piece was, I thought, an important piece. He was really clear about the fact that Westminster is broken, the system of Westminster is completely dysfunctional and that's why if we don't send out SNP MPs I'm afraid Scotland's voice will be ignored.

"I know there has been some media kind of concentration on one snippet of one sentence. Actually most of Keith's piece was about the fact that we need SNP MPs down in Westminster standing up for Scotland," he added.

Apart from Humza Yousaf, Keith Brown holds the most senior elected office within the SNP - depute leader.

So when he muses about his party withdrawing its MPs from Westminster, it's not insignificant.

Broadly speaking, his suggestion has gone down badly with colleagues - so badly he essentially had to take to social media and distance himself from his own newspaper column yesterday evening.

One party figure told me that SNP MPs were not happy with his weekend intervention. Another went further, labelling the SNP's depute leader a "total liability".

The backdrop to this displeasure is the looming general election.

The message the SNP is currently trying to get across is that electing a large group of SNP MPs means Scotland is heard at Westminster.

It's bizarre timing for a senior party figure to choose this moment to float the idea of those MPs not engaging with the very system they're trying to get elected to.

The SNP's political opponents love to jump on any hint of division.

With his newspaper column this weekend, Mr Brown gave them a gift. And senior party figures have had to spend today cleaning up a bit of a mess.