The former leader of the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon, has been released without charge following her arrest on June 11, pending further investigation. Many inside her party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), are increasingly fed up with the drama.
In a surprise move, police on Sunday arrested Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the SNP until stepping down in February.
She was questioned “as a suspect” by detectives investigating allegations of financial misconduct by the SNP, dubbed Operation Branchform. She was held for more than seven hours before being released.
“As the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to comment further,” Police Scotland said. The SNP said it had been cooperating with the investigation and would continue to do so. “It is not appropriate to publicly address any issues while that investigation is ongoing,” a spokesperson said.
Sturgeon herself posted on Twitter, claiming “shock” and “distress” at the situation and proclaimed her innocence.
STATEMENT pic.twitter.com/MlpWJGzwi0
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) June 11, 2023
Within the SNP, dissatisfaction is growing over the course of events. Scottish parliament member Ash Regan called for “decisive action”, indicating that “there is a precedence in the party for people involved in issues of this type to resign from the party voluntarily and suspend their membership until it is cleared up”. She added that an involuntary suspension was also an option should Sturgeon not quit.
Regan’s statements followed calls from SNP MP, Angus MacNeil, who joined opposition parties demanding Sturgeon be suspended, saying on Twitter: “This soap-opera has gone far enough.”
Scottish Conservatives party members are highly critical and say the SNP is in crisis. “The SNP continues to be engulfed in murkiness and chaos. Humza Yousaf [SNP leader] must now show some leadership and suspend his predecessor from the SNP.”
Scottish Labour Party Deputy Leader, Jackie Baillie, also said Sturgeon should be suspended. “The question in my mind is, given all this chaos, given the kind of secrecy and cover-up that has been the hallmark of how the SNP operate, is whether Humza Yousaf, the current First Minister, is indeed strong enough to suspend her and protect the party,” she added.
The events on Sunday followed the earlier arrest of Sturgeon’s husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, on April 5, just days after the power transfer where Yousaf was installed as First Leader.
Despite Sturgeon’s continued denial that her departure had anything to do with the subsequent police investigation into her party’s finances, some observers say the credibility of her insistence is questionable.
The Sottish police investigation is looking into the funds given to the party for a fresh independence referendum campaign after concerns were raised about how donations were used. Seven people made police complaints and a probe was set up following talks with prosecutors.
The law enforcement agency seized a luxury camper van parked outside Sturgeon’s mother-in-law’s house, which was valued at more than £100,000.
The SNP had accumulated £666,953 through appeals from 2017 to 2020. The party committed to utilising these funds for a UK independence campaign. However, concerns were raised when financial records indicated that only approximately £97,000 remained by the end of 2019, with total net assets amounting to roughly £272,000.
In 2022, it was revealed that Murrel gave a loan of more than £100,000 to the SNP to help it out with a “cash flow” issue after the last election. At the time an SNP spokesman said the loan was a “personal contribution made by the chief executive to assist with cash flow after the Holyrood election”.
Several weeks prior to that, MP Douglas Chapman resigned from his position as party treasurer, citing a lack of access to the necessary “financial information” required to fulfil his role effectively.
The entire episode is causing upheaval within the SNP with party membership numbers tumbling from 104,000 two years ago to just over 72,000 in March. The opinion polls also show the party is haemorrhaging voters.
