“I’VE never wanted to be famous” – one of the two new contenders for the SNP’s most-wanted seat at next year’s Scottish Parliament election says she’s not in it for acclaim.

The party aim to win it back as former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson departs Holyrood for the House of Lords.

Independence activist Lee-Anne Menzies revealed in yesterday’s Sunday National that she will stand for selection as the SNP’s Edinburgh Central candidate. The Women for Independence board member said the party must promote more “working-class women”.

Yesterday she used social media to promote her message, telling Twitter: “You’ve probably never heard of me and that’s fine. I’ve never wanted to be famous.

“I am a wife, a mother-of-two, a supermarket worker, a staffer for an MSP, a community activist, an independence campaigner and much more.”

A member of both Yes Craigmillar and Yes Edinburgh Eastern, Menzies, who co-founded Yes Lochend, said she will “bring fresh ideas and perspectives” and offered to support “any other women in Edinburgh Central who may be considering standing”.

She added: “My involvement with politics only happened because of the support and encouragement from my family and my sisters in the independence movement and the party.

“I am often called forthright. I don’t have any issue with straight talking and find it far better to have honest conversations with people. I’m desperate to see this in our Scottish politics more.”

Menzies’s announcement came as former Edinburgh Central MSP Marco Biagi confirmed he, too, will attempt to win the right to stand.

Angus Robertson, who has moved back to the area where he was brought up, is also seeking the support of local branch members, while Joanna Cherry, who represents large parts of the area through her Westminster constituency, has withdrawn in light of a controversial rule change.

Passed by the party’s National Executive Committee on Thursday, the move means sitting MPs must resign in order to stand for the Scottish Parliament.

Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman raised concerns about the matter ahead of the vote, while yesterday Central Ayrshire MP Philippa Whitford stated that it had left all SNP MPs “now trapped at Westminster with no straightforward way to put themselves forward for Scotland’s own Parliament.” She said: “No-one ever mentioned this before any of us stood for Westminster.”

The anticipated Edinburgh Central contest between Robertson and Cherry had been interpreted as one between Sturgeonite and Salmondite sections of the SNP, as well as between those for and against reforms of the Gender Recognition Act.

In his pitch to party members, Biagi said he’d be a “unity candidate beholden to no factions other than the cause of independence”.

He said: “We desperately need a candidate who can bring activists back together. Local members who have encouraged me to come forward include many former supporters of both Joanna Cherry and Angus Robertson. I hope that by entering the process I can reassure all that democracy is alive and well in the party.”