Police arrested the husband of Scotland’s former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in connection with an investigation into Scottish National Party finances, a development with potentially major implications across UK politics.
(Bloomberg) — Police arrested the husband of Scotland’s former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in connection with an investigation into Scottish National Party finances, a development with potentially major implications across UK politics.
Peter Murrell, 58, was taken into custody on Wednesday. Police Scotland have been looking into whether £600,000 ($750,000) of donations to the SNP for independence campaigning may have been used for other purposes.
His arrest comes at a sensitive time for the SNP, just a week after Humza Yousaf won a contest to replace Sturgeon that exposed deep divisions within the party. Having dominated Scottish politics for over a decade, the SNP’s new leader suddenly faces a battle to restore the party’s credibility with voters and fend off the challenge from an emboldened opposition, including Labour.
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“This is a difficult day for the party,” Yousaf told broadcasters after Murrell’s arrest, adding he won’t comment on a live police investigation. The SNP also said in a statement it is conducting an internal review into its governance.
Murrell, who has been married to Sturgeon since 2010, resigned as chief executive of the SNP last month following a separate controversy over falling membership numbers. But that was just weeks after Sturgeon announced she would be stepping down, and helped fuel the sense of a party in turmoil.
Sturgeon has left Yousaf other challenges, including fixing the SNP’s patchy record on health and education and resolving a scandal over ferry contracts.
The immediate threat, though, is the police probe. Already running for about 18 months, officers are looking at complaints that donations which were supposed to have been in a ringfenced referendum fund, had been misappropriated.
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“People will have questions, there will be some concerns. Our party membership will have concerns too.” Yousaf said. “What I can commit to as party leader is that we want to be absolutely transparent.”
Officers are carrying out searches at a number of addresses as part of the probe, Police Scotland said in a statement.
Under Sturgeon, the SNP reached a new level as an electoral force. In 2015, it took 50% of the vote in the 2015 general election and 56 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster districts, a result that weakened Labour and helped pave the way for a Conservative majority in the UK Parliament.
That’s a key reason why her departure, and the turmoil surrounding the SNP, will potentially have such a major impact beyond Scotland. Falling SNP support is seen as a boon for Labour, and every seat it picks up north of the border changes the calculus as it seeks to win power from the Tories in Westminster.
The latest polls show support for the SNP has waned since Sturgeon’s departure, along with appetite for Scottish independence.
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