SNP president Michael Russell has issued a plea for unity in his party, warning independence in the next Parliament will only happen if everyone works to secure a majority in the Holyrood election.

Writing in the Sunday National today, he says the party hit a “low point” last Monday, with the “double whammy” of a “malicious” leak from a meeting of the National Executive Committee and the sacking of MP Joanna Cherry from the front bench triggering a huge backlash.

He condemned abuse directed towards Cherry as “utterly appalling”, adding he had campaigned with her and regarded her as a friend.

But he also said the decision about who should be on the front bench should be “entirely one for the Westminster group and their elected leader.”

READ MORE: Michael Russell: SNP must make peace as infighting only serves our opponents

On the issue of the split between First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond, he said he could not express a view as a serving member of the Government.

He added: “Moreover the two principal figures in it have been friends of mine, as well as colleagues, for 30 years or more. But I would observe – as a poll just this week confirmed – that our current first minister is not only the most admired political figure in Scotland, but also in the whole UK.

“She is the most important asset in the task of coping with and moving through and beyond the pandemic crisis as well for our national journey to independence and we should not forget or devalue that fact.”

He said as a “sixty-something white male” he had been nervous about entering into the debate about transphobia, adding that “any form of prejudice or phobia is wrong”.

He insisted there was no plan or action under way that would remove rights which “so many determined women have fought so hard and long to achieve”.  

Russell, who is also Scotland’s Constitution Secretary, said the vision of independence was closer than ever to becoming real with more people supporting leaving the UK – although he warned there are still not enough.

He added: “The next Parliament is the one that can make independence  happen, but only if for every one of the next 88 days we work together to achieve the majority we must have.”

He said he was pleased by the “wide-ranging support” for the SNP’s route map to a second independence referendum, which was outlined at last month’s National Assembly.

“I firmly believe that given that plan what unites is greater than what divides us,” he said.

“Moreover I know that if we do not elect an SNP Government in just over 12 weeks’ time then we can make no progress at all.

“Only an SNP election victory will deliver a referendum, a campaign for independence and its endorsement by the Scottish people.”