BELIEF in Scottish independence is a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act, an employment tribunal has ruled in a landmark discrimination case brought by an SNP councillor.

Christopher McEleny, the SNP group leader of Inverclyde Council, claims he was unfairly treated by his former employer the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after he announced his candidacy for the SNP deputy leadership role in 2016.

He was working as an electrician at an MoD munitions site in Beith, North Ayrshire, but says that around the time of the leadership hustings his security clearance was revoked and he was suspended.

Mr McEleny claims he was interviewed by national security officials on his pro-independence views and also on Trident, Rangers and Irish politics, according to the Sunday Herald.

Following a preliminary hearing, judge Frances Eccles ruled that Mr McEleny’s support for Scottish independence “has a sufficiently similar cogency to a religious belief … to qualify as a philosophical belief” and was therefore a “protected characteristic” for claiming discrimination.

The judge said: “[Mr McEleny] was clear in his evidence that he does not believe in Scottish independence because it will necessarily lead to improved economic and social conditions for people living in Scotland. It is a fundamental belief in the right of Scotland to national sovereignty.”

The MoD argued that there was a significant difference in law between a political opinion or affiliation and philosophical belief, which “does not have a similar status or cogency to a religious belief.”

But the tribunal found that sovereignty and self-determination are “weighty and substantial aspects of human life” and it was persuaded that “how a country should be governed is sufficiently serious to amount to a philosophical belief.”

Mr McEleny’s lawyer Aamer Anwar said: “This legal precedent now enables my client to pursue a claim for direct discrimination alleging that he was discriminated against because of this belief.

“But, whilst this is an unprecedented legal landmark, I am conscious that this case has taken up two years of Cllr McEleny’s life [and] it really is time that the UK government launched an inquiry into the alleged treatment rather than forcing him to pursue them through the courts.”

An MoD spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on the details of an ongoing employment tribunal.”