FOUR candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to become the next deputy leader of the SNP as the party gears up for a second Scottish independence drive in the wake of the Brexit vote.

The all-male line-up consists of MPs Angus Robertson and Tommy Sheppard, MEP Alyn Smith and senior Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny.

Mr Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, is likely to be the favourite to replace Stewart Hosie, who resigned as deputy leader earlier this year following revelations of an affair with a journalist.

Mr Robertson is pitching himself as the candidate of experience after 15 years as an MP. Being the SNP spokesman at Prime Minister’s questions, he also has the highest public profile.

He has previously served as the SNP’s business convener, chaired the party’s 2007 and 2011 Scottish parliament campaigns and led its controversial decision to change the policy on Nato from opposing membership to supporting it.

Mr McEleny has placed himself to the left of other candidates, having recently called on First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to back a 50p tax rate on the rich, and has called on the party to oppose an unelected head of state.

He says he is a “unique position to speak to the grassroots and promote socialist policies” and wants to rebalance the party by placing more emphasis on councillors, although this may sit uncomfortably with the huge cuts made to local authorities by the SNP administration at Holyrood.

Mr Sheppard is the MP for Edinburgh East and a former Labour councillor in Hackney, east London. He only joined the SNP after the 2014 independence referendum.

He told the BBC that the election “isn’t about policy or being left or right,” but rather “about organisation.”

Mr Sheppard pledged to deliver “an organisational upgrade inside the SNP” after the membership skyrocketed to 120,000 last year.

Mr Smith claims that, as an MEP, he is best placed to “put Europe at the heart of independence and the SNP at the heart of the independence movement” after a majority of Scots voted to remain in the EU.

The former corporate lawyer added: “We can do better selling Scotland to Europe, in Europe, from Brussels. We also need to reach out to member-state capitals directly. I can do that — I already have the network of MEPs to make the introductions.”

The new deputy leader will be announced at the SNP conference in October.