Mhairi Black leaves SNP after disagreeing with party direction
'To be honest, I'm looking around thinking, 'There are better organisations that I could be giving a membership to than this one that I don't feel has been making the right decisions for quite some time.''
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Black singled out what she described as 'the capitulation on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular,' as an issue for her. 'I thought the party could be doing better about Palestine as well,' she added.
'So it was just a culmination of these things.'
Going forward, she said she would seek to support organisations such as the Good Law Project which has directly campaigned on issues such as climate crisis and trans rights by mounting legal challenges.
'That's what I want to throw my money behind,' Black added.
In 2015 Black was elected as MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, beating Labour's Douglas Alexander, then Shadow Foreign Secretary, in the process.
Mhairi Black (Image: Colin Mearns)
Black, who had made a name for herself during the independence campaign in 2014, was only 20 when she was elected, making her the youngest MP in the Commons since the 1832 Reform Act.
Her maiden speech was watched 10 million times online. But her time in parliament also saw her receive death threats. At times she struggled with anxiety and depression and was forced to take time off from working in parliament at the end of 2017. She was also diagnosed with ADHD during her time as an MP.
After successfully defending her seat in the 2017 and 2019 elections, Black announced that she would not be seeking re-election in 2023. Last August - just weeks after the General Election which saw Labour return to power - she performed a Fringe show entitled Politics Is Not For Me, in which she explained why she believed Westminster was a dysfunctional institution and not fit for purpose.
Black is returning to the Fringe this August with a new work-in-progress show. It will not be solely focused on politics this time. But the former MP remains committed to the cause of independence, if not the party that seeks to deliver it.
'I'm still just as pro-independence, absolutely," Black said. 'If anything, I'm probably a bit more left-wing than I have been.
'I don't think I've changed all that much. I feel like the party needs to change a lot more.'
An [[SNP]] spokesperson said: 'The [[SNP]] is the largest political party in Scotland, united under John Swinney's vision of creating a better, fairer Scotland for everyone.
'After a year of disappointment and let downs from the UK Labour government, it's clear that real change will never come from Westminster and that independence is essential for a better future.'
Mhairi Black will be discussing her life after Westminster and her fears for the future in an upcoming interview in The Herald Magazine.
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