TWO former SNP MPs suspended over police inquiries would get thousands of pounds in goodbye payments if they stood for as Independents in June and lost, it has emerged.
Natalie McGarry in Glasgow East and Michelle Thomson in Edinburgh West would qualify for “loss of office payments” if they ran unsuccessfully for re-election, even as paper candidates.
However they will get nothing if they stand down voluntarily.
In previous years, MPs qualified for extremely generous and controversial “resettlement grants” to help them adjust to life outside parliament.
But after a public backlash, the system was changed in 2015, and losing MPs now qualify for double statutory redundancy pay, which is based on a person’s time of service and age.
In Ms McGarry’s case, this would be just under £2000, and for Ms Thomson just under £3000.
The SNP’s national executive committee is due to meet on Saturday to decide how to deal with the pair, although SNP activists are already vying to replace them in each seat.
Ms McGarry, 35, who announced yesterday that she was pregnant with her first child after collapsing in the Commons, is facing fraud charges, while Ms Thomson, 52, has been reported to prosecutors after a police investigation into possible mortgage fraud.
The SNP hierarchy is unlikely to welcome either back into the party fold.
The two, who currently sit as Independents, were the only Scottish MPs to vote against an early election this week.
A Scottish LibDem spokesperson said: “These two nationalist MPs have been an embarrassment and have let down their constituents. It’s no wonder they voted against a holding a General Election and the prospect of their having to defend their records.”
Glasgow East, where Ms McGarry won by more than 10,000 votes in 2015, is attracting a rush of interest from SNP hopefuls, including former party national Secretary Duncan Ross, Commons aide David Linden and outgoing North Lanarkshire councillor Rosa Zambonini.
In Edinburgh West, there is interest from Jamie Szymkowiak, another MP’s aide, and Toni Guigliano, who stood in the equivalent Holyrood seat in 2016.
The LibDems, who have high hopes of gaining Edinburgh West, will choose a candidate in days - as in all the party’s top five target seats, there will be an all-woman shortlist.
Mark Whittet, founder of the Scottish Independence Party, announced he would also contest the seat, and urged the SNP to step down to make way for him, or the LibDems would win.
He said: “With a toxic sitting MP and a contaminated brand, the SNP can only lose Edinburgh West at the next election – especially as the Tories are urging voters to support the best placed pro-Unionist candidate to defeat SNP candidates. If Tory voters in Edinburgh West heed the ‘anyone but the SNP’ call, the Liberals will win the seat.
“That is why Scotland’s Independence Referendum Party is calling on Nicola Sturgeon – as SNP leader – not to put up a candidate in Edinburgh West.”
Meanwhile, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson is facing a challenge from one of the Scottish Tories’ rising stars at Holyrood in his Moray constituency.
Tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross, who came second in Moray by 9000 votes in 2015, is tipped to stand, while Tory MSP Ross Thomson is expected to challenge the SNP’s Callum McCaig in Aberdeen South.
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