Joanna Cherry to challenge Angus Robertson for SNP nomination

Joanna Cherry is to go head-to-head with former Westminster leader Angus Robertson in a bid to be the SNP candidate for Ruth Davidson’s Holyrood seat.

The Edinburgh South West MP confirmed she would contest for her party’s support for the Scottish Parliament’s Edinburgh Central constituency.

It comes four days after the SNP’s former Westminster leader announced he planned to bid for the seat.

The Tories have a 610-vote majority.

The seat was won from the SNP by the former Scottish Conservative leader at the last Scottish Parliament election in 2016 but Ms Davidson has indicated she will be stepping down at the next poll.

• Angus Robertson bids to run for Holyrood in 2021
• Ruth Davidson unlikely to seek re-election

Since then, she accepted and then turned down a lucrative job with a lobbying firm and has been nominated for a seat in the House of Lords.

Mr Robertson lost his Westminster seat to the Conservatives’ Douglas Ross at the 2017 general election.

Ms Cherry recently gained recognition for leading the Scottish court case challenging the five-week prorogation of parliament.

It was ultimately successful in the Supreme Court, resulting in the quashing of the suspension, which had been imposed in September.

Announcing his intention to contest the seat, Mr Robertson accused Ms Davidson of putting “other career interests in London ahead of the people she still represents at Holyrood” and argued that constituents “deserve better”.

He said: “Edinburgh Central deserves a full-time MSP who will put the interests of their constituents first.”