James Dornan reverses decision to stand down at Scottish election

James Dornan has announced that he no longer plans to stand down at the Scottish election next year.

The SNP MSP for Glasgow Cathcart had said in March that he would be retiring from the Scottish Parliament.

But he told party members in his constituency on Thursday evening that he hopes to get the SNP nomination to stand again in May 2021, saying that the effects of coronavirus had left him with a lot of “unfinished business” in the area.

Dornan said that he has contacted SNP headquarters to seek the party’s nomination to be the candidate.

In a statement seen by The National, he said: “In March I emailed you to say I intended to retire as your MSP at the forthcoming election. Since then things have changed for us all thanks to COVID-19 and the accompanying lockdown.

"This has brought with it an overwhelming amount of work, much of it new and unusual, for my staff and I to deal with and leaves what I consider to be some unfinished business with constituents, businesses and organisations I have worked closely with over the last nine years.

"A lot of experience is due to leave the parliament in May and I have decided that, your support forthcoming of course, I want to be given the chance to continue to use the experience I have gained in 14 years of elected politics and, once again, represent the constituency for the next Parliamentary session. To that end I contacted SNP HQ last night to inform them that I wish to be considered for reselection to the Glasgow Cathcart Parliamentary seat."

Dornan has represented Glasgow Cathcart since 2011 and is currently the convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Communities Committee.

He has also been convener of the Education Committee and SNP deputy whip.

Prior to becoming an MSP, Dornan was the SNP group leader on Glasgow City Council.

Dornan is particularly known for his work on sectarianism, something he has received a great deal of abuse for.

He convened a cross-party group on tackling sectarianism and has called for the introduction of strict liability in football, where clubs would be sanctioned for sectarian behaviour by their fans.

He dropped a bid to become depute leader of the SNP in 2018 to focus on the problem.

However, in January Dornan said he was giving up his work on sectarianism and standing down as convener of the cross-party group over a lack of will to make changes from fellow politicians, who he said were “too scared” to get involved.