SNP MP Stephen Gethins has said he is "frustrated" at Westminster and sees his future as part of the "more ambitious" Scottish Parliament.
The Arbroath and Broughty Ferry MP will be running for Holyrood in the Dundee City East seat in 2026, less than two years after returning to the House of Commons.
After originally being elected as an MP in 2015, Gethins lost his seat four years' later to the LibDems' Wendy Chamberlain.
He then spent a few years as a professor of international relations at the University of St Andrews before returning to Westminster last July.
Speaking to The National at SNP conference in Aberdeen, he said that while he feels his job in London is an "utter privilege", he said Westminster is becoming "dangerous and isolated" and he wants to be part of a Parliament that "gets things done".
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He said: "The frustrating thing about being at Westminster is that people keep saying they’re going to do things and nothing ever happens.
"Holyrood has got much fewer powers than Westminster but it gets things done that are important to people and at Westminster we just feel a bit frustrated stuck and what I’m really worried about is this lurch to the right, this Westminster consensus around things like the European Convention on Human Rights for goodness sake.
"It is increasingly in a dangerous and isolated place.
"The SNP is incredibly important in the arguments it makes at Westminster, but it might be nice to be in a Parliament in which I see myself as having a future. No SNP MP should see themselves as having a big future at Westminster."
Gethins said his real ambition had been to be a member of the European Parliament prior to the UK's exit from the European Union and he is still hugely driven by issues such as Brexit in his work at Westminster.
But he feels the place he can make a "real difference" is in Edinburgh.
"I really enjoy my work, it’s an utter privilege. Brexit still drives me, it was the biggest mistake the Government in the UK has made for years," he said.
"But fundamentally, politics has to be about delivering for people in Scotland and that’s what the Scottish Parliament is doing and that’s what an SNP government, should it be re-elected, is committed to doing and being part of that is exciting.
"I was always keen to be in the European Parliament, that was a parliament I saw a future in. Again, any SNP MP should not see themselves as having a future at Westminster. There’s an important job to be done there, but I think that [if you're] wanting to make a real difference, you can do so in the Scottish Parliament."
The current MSP for Dundee City East Shona Robison (above) revealed in March she would not be seeking re-election, having served in the Scottish Parliament since it was reconvened.
With Angus South MSP Graeme Dey and Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick also stepping down, more than 60 years worth of parliamentary experience is about to be lost from the area in a few months' time.
Gethins said while he doesn't feel he can replace that experience, his "different perspective" from years at Westminster could be valuable.
"What I think about why democracies are better than autocracies is it’s about that mixture [of perspectives you get]," he said.
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"You want that freshness in there, you want different perspectives. My time at Westminster gives me different perspectives to those who have been at Holyrood.
"Having somebody who’s been in Westminster recently with the colossal mistakes that were made and the frustrations down there I think is important, but also we need people from other walks of life."
Asked about his expertise in international relations being more linked to Westminster because of foreign affairs being reserved, he said he didn't think that would be an issue as he argued Scotland is at its best when it takes part on the international stage.
He described John Swinney's meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office to push the case on removing whisky tariffs as an "astonishing feat of soft power".
"Scotland is at its best when it looks outwards in the world," Gethins added.
"I don’t think the Scottish Parliament should ever be apologetic about being international and outward looking."
On Swinney's meeting with Trump, he said: "It was really impressive.
"I don’t get to elect the President of the US, American voters do, and they voted for Trump. Now you can like that or not, but I’ve got constituents whose jobs are on the line depending on US tariffs and I would expect my First Minister to be making the case for Scottish jobs.
"It was an astonishing feat of soft power and diplomacy that someone without the whole range of powers of the Foreign Office got right in there to make the case for Scottish jobs."
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