Fergus Ewing

Fergus Stewart Ewing (born 23 September 1957) is a Scottish independent politician. Formerly a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he served as the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism from 2016 to 2021, having previously held two junior ministerial posts.

He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) between 1999 and 2026, representing Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber until 2011, and then its successor seat Inverness and Nairn. From 2021 to 2025, Ewing was a perennial rebel in the Scottish Parliament, frequently voting against the SNP leadership and voicing discontent with government policy. This eventually led to a short suspension of the party whip in 2024 and his departure from the SNP in June 2025.

Born in Glasgow, Ewing attended Loretto School in Musselburgh. He graduated from the University of Glasgow with an LLB and worked as a solicitor in the two decades prior to becoming an MSP. In the first election to the Scottish Parliament, which took place in 1999, both his wife, Margaret Ewing, and mother, Winnie Ewing, were elected to the parliament alongside him. In 2011, his sister Annabelle Ewing became an MSP too. Following the SNP victory in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election Ewing held a series of posts in government until his departure in 2021. After that he became a vocal critic of government policy and was particularly opposed to the SNP's cooperation agreement with the Scottish Greens.

In 2025, he announced that he would stand against the SNP in the Inverness and Nairn constituency as an independent candidate in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. This bid for re-election was unsuccessful and he came third behind the SNP and Scottish Liberal Democrats, with a total of 7,840 votes, or, 21.3% of the overall vote.