Former MP Mhairi Black announces she has left the SNP

Former SNP MP Mhairi Black has left the party – predominantly over its stance on trans rights and Palestine, the BBC understands.

Black, who was formerly the SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster, said there had been “too many times” when she did not agree with decisions made by the party.

Speaking to The Herald newspaper, she said the SNP had “capitulated” on issues important to her

“Basically, for a long time, I’ve not agreed with quite a few decisions that have been made,” she said.

Black was catapulted into the political limelight when she was elected to Westminster at the age of 20 and became the youngest MP since 1832.

She stood down ahead of the general election last year, citing safety concerns, social media abuse and unsociable hours.

She was elected as the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, ousting the former Labour cabinet secretary Douglas Alexander, with her victory there coming as the SNP captured all but three of the seats in Scotland in the 2015 general election.

It was first national election since the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.

She announced her departure from the SNP ahead of her show “Work in Progress” at the Edinburgh Fringe.

“There have just been too many times when I’ve thought, ‘I don’t agree with what you’ve done there’ or the decision or strategy that has been arrived at,” she said in the Herald interview.

Black said she was “still just as pro-independence,” but claimed the party’s “capitulation on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular” had been an issue for her.

She added: “I thought the party could be doing better about Palestine as well.”

The former MP said: “If anything, I’m probably a bit more left wing than I have been. I don’t think I have changed all that much. I feel like the party needs to change a lot more.”

Black was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during her time at Westminster, saying previously that the condition was picked up after she became unwell with “burn-out” during her time as an MP.

An SNP spokesperson said the party was “united under John Swinney’s vision of creating a better, fairer Scotland”.