SNP MP Angus MacNeil suspended from party following row with chief whip

SNP MP Angus MacNeil has been suspended from the party after a row with the party’s chief whip Brendan O’Hara.

It is alleged the two men clashed after MacNeil, the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Western Isles), missed votes in the House of Commons.

Speaking to the BBC, MacNeil said he accepted the decision taken by the party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn.

"Stephen has his views and I have mine, but as leader he has his own pressures to balance and I accept the decision he has taken," he said.

MacNeil, who was first elected in 2005, tweeted earlier this week, urging his followers to “always stand up to bullies”.

The row comes after it emerged that Mhairi Black, the party’s deputy leader at Westminster, will stand down at the next general election. She is the sixth member of her party in recent weeks to say she will not stand for re-election.

Polling released yesterday by Survation shows the SNP could lose around 20 seats at the new election amid a Labour resurgence.