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In other politics news, former Scottish National party MP Natalie McGarry has been released from custody pending a potential appeal, six days after she was sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzling more than £25,000 from pro-independence campaign groups.

Following her sentencing last week, a number of people questioned the merits of jailing an obviously vulnerable new mother, including one of the groups she stole from, Women for Independence, and Labour’s Margaret Curran, who was shadow Scottish secretary until losing her seat to McGarry in the 2015 general election.

The 37-year-old was granted bail on Tuesday whilst judges decide whether she has legal grounds to appeal against the conviction or sentence.

The decision to grant bail was taken by Judge Lord Turnbull at a private hearing at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, which McGarry did not attend.

Her legal team argued that McGarry had received “defective” legal representation during previous sheriff court proceedings, that she suffers from poor mental health and does not pose a risk to public safety.

During a protracted legal process, McGarry changed counsel several times, then pleaded guilty in April but later refused to accept her own guilty plea.

She embezzled the largest amount, £21,000, from Women for Independence (WfI) , a campaign group she helped set up and fulfilled the role of treasurer. The money was intended to go to a food bank in Perth and Kinross and a campaign group, Positive Prisons, Positive Futures.

She also admitted embezzling £4,661 in the course of her role as treasurer, secretary and convener of the regional SNP association.

Last week at Glasgow Sheriff Court, McGarry’s lawyer detailed a catalogue of mental ill health starting before she entered parliament in 2015, including depression and anxiety as well as postpartum depression, which she experienced after the birth of her daughter in November 2017.

Sheriff Paul Crozier told her that he had no option but to jail her, because her fraud was “of the most serious kind,” and relating to a position of trust.