THE SNP’s former deputy leader at Westminster Mhairi Black has resigned from the party over what she branded its “capitulation” over trans rights.

Ms Black enjoyed a meteoric rise, becoming the youngest MP since 1832 when she deposed Labour’s Douglas Alexander in SNP’s 2015 landslide, before standing down at last year's general election.

She had blamed Westminster’s “toxic” environment for her decision to leave after nine years following what she described as burnout.

A year after she left front-line politics, Ms Black announced she will leave the party she had once helped lead, telling the Herald newspaper: “Basically, for a long time, I’ve not agreed with quite a few decisions that have been made.”

She insisted that she was “still just as pro-independence,” but argued that the party’s “capitulation on LGBT rights, trans rights in particular” was a defining issue, adding: “I thought the party could be doing better about Palestine as well.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP is the largest political party in Scotland, united under John Swinney’s vision of creating a better, fairer Scotland for everyone.”