Joanna Cherry rules out Holyrood run unless SNP ‘faces up to’ misogyny

Ms Cherry is one of the dozens of MPs the party lost in the election last week, with Labour taking her Edinburgh South West seat.

In the wake of the loss, the former MP has spoken out about “misogyny” within the party after an online spat with a former party staffer.

Responding to Ms Cherry’s loss, Derec Thompson described her as a “pathetic, narcissistic, abusive loser”, which she claimed was an example of the “stinking misogyny” of some within the SNP.

On Sunday, Mr Thompson accused the former MP of bullying, which he complained to the party about.

Ms Cherry denied the accusations, adding: “There is currently much speculation about whether I will seek election to the Scottish Parliament.

“I want to be quite clear that there is no question of my doing unless my complaints are addressed & the SNP faces up to the problem of misogyny in the party.”

The SNP has been contacted for comment.

With almost 40 SNP MPs having lost their seats at the general election, a number of already experienced politicians could seek a run at Holyrood in 2026, sparking selection contests with already sitting MSPs across the country.

The Sunday Times reported as many as 20 of those ousted could seek election to the Scottish Parliament.

At the weekend, Stewart McDonald, who was defeated in Glasgow South, warned the SNP needs a major reset if it is to avoid getting “horsed” in the 2026 Holyrood elections.

Mr McDonald said while he trusted John Swinney to “try to turn things round”, the SNP leader would need to be a “ruthless” to succeed in this.

While he stressed no individual or policy in the SNP was to blame for the party’s defeat, he said: “I think we have a cultural problem within the SNP and that cultural problem is about seriousness.”

Former deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black, meanwhile, wrote in a newspaper that the “biggest factor in the loss of support for the SNP was the SNP themselves”.

The former deputy Westminster leader – who stood down at last week’s election – went on to say “internal cracks” within the party had become “chasms”.

“Renewed and festering resentment towards the SNP hierarchy has fuelled so many of the party’s own goals in recent years,” she said.

“As has the increasingly public political tug-of-war between the progressive left and the socially conservative right.

“The problem at the heart of the SNP is that independence is pretty much the only thing all members agree on.

“Being seen to spend more energy fighting amongst ourselves than we spend helping people out of poverty, being seen to care more about the process of independence than we do about convincing people as to why we should be independent, is exactly why the SNP seem out of touch to so many.

“Until the SNP agree on how progressive they want to be, I fear the party’s self-destruction has further to go yet.”