Former SNP Treasurer Douglas Chapman will step down as MP in the election

The MP for Dunfermline and West Fife succeeds the party’s former Westminster leader Ian Blackford and fellow MPs Peter Grant and Angela Crawley, who have also announced they will not stand in the election.

Mr Chapman resigned as party treasurer in May 2021, claiming he had not received enough information to do his job. He was then succeeded by MSP Colin Beattie, whom he had ousted from office six months earlier at the party’s annual conference.

When he stepped down as national treasurer, he criticized a lack of support and information, although he emphasized that when he was elected in November 2020 he had been given a “strong mandate” to bring more transparency to the SNP’s finances.

An ongoing police probe into SNP finances has since led to the arrest and subsequent release without charge of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, former SNP chief Peter Murrell, and Mr Beattie.

Mr Chapman announced his plans to step down as MP and said he made the decision after discussions with his “family and close political friends”.

He said: “I intend to work hard for my constituents for the rest of this Parliament. I will continue to work towards our national mission of making Scotland a confident, prosperous and happy independent nation.”

His announcement came after Mr Blackford announced earlier in the month that he was stepping down as MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber at the next general election.

SNP MP Peter Grant, who represents Glenrothes and Central Fife and is the party’s treasurer at Westminster, later announced he would not stand for re-election, while Lanark and Hamilton East MP Angela Crawley confirmed on Friday that she also intends to resign in the general election.