An SNP MP who had the party whip suspended has announced he will not rejoin the Westminster group until it “is clear that the SNP are pursuing independence”.

Angus MacNeil was suspended last Wednesday for a week following a row with the party’s chief whip, Brendan O’Hara.

The Western Isles MP has now revealed he will continue to sit as an independent until at least after the SNP conference in October, and will only rejoin if the party provides “clarity on independence”.

Posting a letter on Twitter, he said his decision was not about the incident with Mr O’Hara.

Instead, he criticised the SNP and said the party was “utterly clueless” on its independence strategy.

Mr MacNeil said: “I will only seek the SNP whip again if it is clear that the SNP are pursuing independence.

“At the moment, the SNP has become a brand name missing the key ingredient. The urgency for independence is absent.”

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Mr MacNeil said the Scottish government went to the Supreme Court a year ago “utterly clueless about how to pursue independence” and then left the court “utterly clueless about how to pursue independence”.

He added: “The SNP still have no clear understanding that it has to use elections to negotiate Scottish independence from Westminster by getting the backing of the majority of the electorate.

“The SNP membership must have a say at conference on the policy direction, which is hasn’t until now.”

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Mr MacNeil stated that the “tricks of the last six years of kicking the can down the road” had not served Scotland well, with the country “trapped with Brexit in a socially failing UK”.

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The MP, who has sat in the House of Commons since 2005, said he would stand again in the next election, adding: “And I hope after clarity on independence after the October conference that I will be standing for the SNP.”

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