At the
2001 general election, MacNeil stood as the
SNP candidate in
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, coming second with 25.6% of the vote behind the incumbent
Labour MP
David Stewart. MacNeil was elected to Parliament at the
2005 general election as MP for with 44.9% of the vote and a majority of 1,441. In March 2006, MacNeil came to attention when he lodged a complaint with the
Metropolitan Police regarding the
Cash for Peerages scandal. In April 2006, he and former MP
Martin Bell wrote to the Prime Minister
Tony Blair calling for all appointments to the
House of Lords to be suspended in the wake of the scandal. In November 2006 he won the Best Scot at Westminster section of the
Scottish Politician of the Year awards for instigating the inquiry into possible abuse of the honours system. On 17 November 2006 MacNeil had the highest bill for travel in 2006–07. This is mainly due to the distance of his constituency from
London as well as the dispersed geographical nature of the constituency. At the
2010 general election, MacNeil was re-elected as MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar with an increased vote share of 45.7% and an increased majority of 1,885. He was again re-elected at the
2015 general election with an increased vote share of 54.3% and an increased majority of 4,102. In June 2015 he was appointed chair of the
Energy and Climate Change Select Committee; in July 2016, chair of the International Trade Select Committee; in October 2017, a member of the
Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy; and in April 2023, chair of the
Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee. MacNeil was again re-elected at the snap
2017 general election, with a decreased vote share of 40.6% and a decreased majority of 1,007. In July 2019 MacNeil criticised the then
Conservative leadership candidate,
Boris Johnson for stating that learning English is essential for immigrants. MacNeil called English a "Germanic import" in contrast to indigenous Celtic languages. MacNeil was again re-elected at the
2019 general election, with an increased vote share of 45.1% and an increased majority of 2,438.
Suspensions from the SNP On 5 July 2023, he was suspended from the SNP Westminster group for one week, following an argument with SNP Chief Whip
Brendan O'Hara allegedly over MacNeil's missing key votes. A week later, on 12 July MacNeil tweeted that he would sit as an independent until deciding whether to rejoin after the SNP conference in October 2023, and that he would stand in the
2024 United Kingdom general election, though not necessarily for the SNP. As a result, he was informed that day by the SNP National Secretary his refusal to take the whip was in breach of the rules, and the following day his party membership was suspended.
Expulsion from the SNP The SNP selection process for all MP candidates, including in seats the party holds, was scheduled to take place before the October conference MacNeil had chosen as a time he would consider re-joining the group. MacNeil said of his suspension to
The Times: "It's a bit Stalinist and I'm going to fight this. They can't just resign me from the party. I've been a member since the 1990s at least". MacNeil was subsequently expelled from the SNP on 11 August 2023. He was a member of the "
Scotland United" group in Parliament along with the
Alba Party.
2024 general election In August 2023, MacNeil announced that he would stand as an
independent in Na h-Eileanan an Iar at the
2024 general election. He subsequently lost to Labour's Torcuil Crichton who won with almost 50% of the votes. MacNeil finished third and the SNP's candidate Susan Thomson was second.
Alba Party MacNeil officially joined the
Alba Party in December 2024, whilst reportedly considering standing for the party at the
2026 Scottish Parliament election. ==Personal life==