The SNP leadership will move to take the whip from one of the party’s most experienced MSPs within days after his repeated criticism of Humza Yousaf’s policies.
Several senior sources in the nationalist Holyrood group said that Fergus Ewing, a minister under Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond, will be severely disciplined for a series of rebellions.
Despite just being named MSP of the Year by Holyrood magazine, Mr Ewing faces sanction after voting against Lorna Slater, the Green minister for the circular economy, in a confidence vote because of her handling of the botched deposit return scheme.
However the punishment process was delayed when his mother, Winnie Ewing, the SNP trailblazer, died in June, according to the Times.
Ewing has rebelled against numerous policies — including fishing quotas under highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) and allowing people to change their gender legally through self-identification, which is at the centre of a court battle between Holyrood and Westminster.
He has been highly critical of the failure to dual the A9 trunk road and a vocal opponent of coalition between the SNP and the Scottish Greens.
In his award acceptance speech, he ridiculed what he called a year of “flushable Scottish government policies”, which he joked were destined for the “Scottish government official policy recycling unit”.
Ewing dropped a heavy hint he will once again break the whip and vote against the Scottish Government on Wednesday, when the Conservatives lead a debate on controversial new licences for short-term lets.