SNP lawyer accused of insulting MP in leaked email

The SNP’s in-house lawyer Scott Martin reportedly insulted SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC, according to an alleged leaked email published today by The Daily Record newspaper.

In the email Martin is alleged to have reacted to a complaint by commenting that “even” Ms Cherry would not have offered such “pseudo-legal bats***”.

Labour MSP Neil Bibby told the newspaper that the allegation was : “ yet more evidence of the toxic culture at the heart of the SNP,” adding that: “With so much energy being wasted on internal squabbling, it is no surprise that they have taken their eye off the ball on the important issues facing Scotland,” he added.

This is the latest in a long line of controversies regarding Ms Cherry’s standing within the Scottish National Party.

Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, retweeted a post earlier this month arguing that Ms Cherry, the MP for Edinburgh South West, should be expelled from their party for her comments on trans rights.

Cherry has opposed proposed reforms of the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland which would allow transgender people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate on the basis of a statutory declaration, replacing the current system that requires an interview by a bureaucratic panel and medical reports.

Cherry was sacked from the SNP’s Westminster frontbench in February after a public feud with Mrs Blackman, the former deputy leader in the Commons.