CHERRY BOMB

Ousted MP demands Sturgeon apologise for SNP's downfall | Calls for Flynn and Forbes to take reins of troubled party | Bitter infighting after drubbing at the polls

- CHRIS MCCALL

NICOLA Sturgeon should apologise for her part in the SNP's collapse, ousted MP Joanna Cherry has demanded.

And a former SNP minister called for John Swinney quit to allow his deputy, Kate Forbes, and Westminster leader Stephen Flynn to take over.

The SNP has descended into bitter infighting as angry members demand answers after the party was left with just nine MPs following a brutal reckoning with voters.

Cherry was one of 39 SNP candidates to lose their seats in Thursday's poll after her Edinburgh South West constituency was snatched by Labour.

The angry politician said Sturgeon should carry blame for the party's shattering defeat because its reputation for governing Scotland properly had taken a "severe battering".

And she rejected claims by former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford that she was just "bitter" at losing her seat. Asked if the former leader owed the SNP an apology, Cherry said yesterday: "I think she does.

I don't think you can ever blame a setback like this on one person, however, Nicola Sturgeon was a very strong leader who brooked no debate and no dissent, as I know to my considerable cost."

Cherry added there had been a "huge strategic failure" on Sturgeon's part to further the cause of independence and reach unconvinced voters.

The former MP continued: "It was difficult to persuade people to vote SNP in this election.