Former SNP MP Angus MacNeil has said too many members of the party “take a line without thinking it through”.

MacNeil quit the party earlier this year following a suspension from the Westminster group after he accused chief whip Brendan O’Hara of bullying.

In a letter posted on social media in July following his suspension, MacNeil said he would not rejoin the SNP group unless it was clear they were “pursuing independence”.

In a new interview with Holyrood Magazine, the MP said: “Too many people in the SNP now take a line without thinking it through.

“The SNP has become very unthinking.

“Sometimes the sheep I shepherd here at home [on Barra] show more of an independence of thought than the SNP.

“If more of my sheep were as compliant as some SNP politicians, being a shepherd would be a lot easier.”

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters