SNP chiefs will hand-pick the candidates vying to replace two MPs who have stood down amid police probes.
The Courier revealed on Tuesday that Fife-born Natalie McGarry will not fight to retain her Glasgow East constituency in June’s general election after she and Edinburgh West representative Michelle Thomson were ditched by the party at the weekend.
Both lost the SNP whip after they were placed at the centre of separate police probes.
Now it can be revealed that the SNP’s ruling National Executive Committee decided on Saturday that it would choose who replaces the duo, as well as the candidates for the three constituencies in Scotland the party does not currently hold.
This is despite some calling for the seats to be contested as all-women shortlists, following the precedent set for Holyrood constituencies where sitting MSPs were standing down at last year’s election.
A Nationalist source said: “Perhaps some of the people who mooted themselves (for selection) would have been undesirable.
“They are not in the party’s standing orders but, in terms of the SNP’s commitment to all-women shortlists, this is quite an extraordinary blow to gender balance.”
An SNP spokesman said: “The SNP will select candidates in the five constituencies currently not represented by SNP MPs by the end of the week, following consultation with local members.”
Ms McGarry, 35, was charged with fraud offences last September following allegations of missing independence campaigning donations.
She announced last week that she is pregnant after it was reported that she fainted in the Commons tearoom.
Ms Thomson, 52, has never been formally accused of any crimes despite an investigation into property deals linked to her and has already confirmed she will not run as an independent candidate.
Her property firms were accused of preying on vulnerable people by buying homes at knockdown prices from families struggling to pay their mortgage.
Police are no longer investigating her.
