Former SNP leadership contender Ash Regan, pictured right,  has said many of her former colleagues in Humza Yousaf’s party are very unhappy. She said: “There are many in the party who are very disgruntled and maybe around 14 or 15 MSPs are significantly on the edge.”

The bombshell claims came after she sensationally quit the Nats to become the Alba Party’s first MSP. In the wake of her defection, Alba MP Neale Hanvey claimed that more politicians would follow – although fellow backbench rebel Fergus Ewing made it clear he was staying put.

Speaking to the GlasgowHerald, the Edinburgh Eastern MSP said “dissent isn’t tolerated” in the SNP. “It gets crushed,” she said. “Tens of thousands of members have disappeared and several elected members have gone too. Clearly something is very wrong inside the SNP.”

She added: “I know I’ll be in a group of one for a while and that it may be lonely, difficult and challenging. But I’m optimistic that others will join me as certain events unfold. I feel a lot better though, because I’m now free to talk about independence again. In the last few years that’s not been the case and there’s been no support from HQ or central office.”

Ms Regan first hit the headlines when she quit as community safety minister in October 2022 protest at the Gender Reform Recognition Bill, making an enemy of then first minister Nicola Sturgeon and sparking the biggest SNP rebellion in years.

She said: “The SNP had no idea how unpopular gender reform was amongst the public. There was a feeling that it would just pass and people wouldn’t really care. I tried to warn them in cabinet when I used to deputise for Humza.

“On one occasion when I saw that gender reform was on the agenda, I told Nicola that campaign groups were actually forming to fight this. She flat out refused to countenance this. But these groups became a mighty campaigning force. I don’t think she or the party understood how determinedly ordinary females would organise and fight back.”

On Friday, it emerged that Ms Regan will need to move to a new office at Holyrood and the Scottish Greens are not happy at the prospect of having her as a neighbour. Party insiders have claimed that transgender staff would fear for their safety.

‘They have no problem sharing a bathroom with me’

In a withering response, Ms Regan said: “This is a parliament for grown-ups, and they should act like grown-ups. Some of those who claim to be disturbed at the prospect of my presence will have no problem sharing the women’s bathroom with me. So these claims are just performative and the sort of stuff you’d expect at the playgroup.

“More serious for me is how damaging the Scottish Greens have been in government. It’s beyond doubt that the Bute House Agreement has been damaging for the SNP. The policies that have caused the SNP the most trouble in the last couple of years are either policies that have come from the Scottish Greens or they’ve been implemented by them.”

Top picture: First Minister Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan MSP, who defected to the Alba Party to devote time to the Scottish independence campaign.