SNP finances: Shona Robison says party must get its house in order

Ms Robison is a close friend of former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon

The SNP must "absolutely get our house in order" in the wake of two major party figures being arrested, Deputy First Minister Shona Robison has said.

Ms Robison was speaking as Police Scotland continued its investigation into the party's finances.

Officers arrested SNP treasurer Colin Beattie on Tuesday and former chief executive Peter Murrell earlier this month.

Both men were later released pending further investigation.

Detectives are looking into how more than £600,000 in donations, raised by activists to fund a future independence referendum campaign, has been spent by the party.

There have been newspaper reports that some people within the SNP are concerned that former leader Nicola Sturgeon - who is married to Mr Murrell - could be the next person to be arrested.

• SNP will be in trouble without action - Forbes

• SNP treasurer Colin Beattie released without charge

Ms Robison is a close friend of Ms Sturgeon but said she did not know if she had spoken to detectives and declined to comment on any of the speculation, saying it would not be helpful to do so.

Asked if she had been in contact with Ms Sturgeon, Ms Robison told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Right at the beginning of the process I sent her a very short message asking after her welfare really and I got a very short reply.

"We have had no discussion whatsoever about the police investigation. It would not be appropriate for me to do so."

Officers spent two days searching Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon's home in Glasgow earlier this month, but Ms Sturgeon had previously said she had not spoken to the police.

A luxury motorhome was seized by officers from outside the home of Mr Murrell's mother in Dunfermline on the same morning that he was arrested.

Nicola Sturgeon has previously said she has not spoken to officers involved in the investigation into SNP's finances

Ms Robison, who is also the country's finance secretary, acknowledged that the party was facing "very serious matters indeed".

But she said First Minister Humza Yousaf, who succeed Ms Sturgeon last month, had taken "very swift action to ensure that party members as well as the public can be confident in the future governance and transparency of the party".

On Saturday, the SNP's ruling national executive council ordered a review of transparency and the way the party is managed at the weekend, which Ms Robison said was "really, really important."

She added: "Going forward, the governance of the party needs to be absolutely about transparency, openness and people should be able to question about the accounts or any other matters.

"We've got to absolutely get our house in order, the public will expect nothing else, but meanwhile we also have to address some of those concerns that the public have about other matters like the cost-of-living crisis."

Mr Yousaf has dismissed calls for Ms Sturgeon, Mr Murrell and Mr Beattie to be suspended from the party while the police investigation is ongoing, saying he believes in people being innocent until proven guilty.

He has said he will speak to Mr Beattie, the MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, about his role as party treasurer.

BBC Scotland understands that the SNP will replace Mr Beattie with another of its MSPs, Bill Kidd, on the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee for the time being.

Mr Beattie sent his apologies instead of attending the economy committee, of which he is deputy convener, on Wednesday morning.

Ms Sturgeon has said she will not attend the Scottish Parliament in person this week, but she did take part in a vote remotely on Tuesday evening.

Humza Yousaf's speech setting out his plan for government on Tuesday were overshadowed by Mr Beattie's arrest

Last week, Mr Yousaf revealed that he had been unaware until he became leader that the SNP's auditors had resigned more than six months ago.

Johnston Carmichael quit last September and the party has so far been unable to find a replacement - leading to fears that it may unable to file its accounts with the Electoral Commission by the July deadline.

Ms Robison said work was continuing "at pace" to appoint new auditors.

Leaked video footage published by the Sunday Mail at the weekend that showed Ms Sturgeon playing down fears about the party's finances in a virtual meeting of the party's ruling body in March 2021.

Ms Sturgeon told NEC members the party's finances had never been stronger and warned of the impact of going public with concerns.

The SNP's former Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, has insisted that there was "nothing untoward" in the clip and claimed that the party's finances are in "robust health".

But the Sunday Times has reported that Mr Beattie told the NEC at the weekend that the SNP was struggling to balance its books due to a drop in member numbers and donors.

Former leadership contender Kate Forbes told a BBC Radio 4 documentary that people were watching the SNP "with astonishment" and that claims about the party finances were "mind-blowing".

She said there was "time to sort it out" but warned "continuity won't cut it".

Asked about the way the party had been run by Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell, Ms Forbes said: "They were obviously a very good team in the sense of managing the SNP.

"But there's no question that since then there have been lots of questions about transparency... it doesn't matter how slick the optics are, you need good governance."

She added: "We are at a pretty critical moment - and it will be the response and the reaction that determines how big a problem this is for the SNP."

Not so long ago, Nicola Sturgeon was in a dominant position atop the SNP and Scottish government, and dissenting voices were vanishingly rare.

Even after she resigned, Humza Yousaf was seen as making a canny strategic decision by donning the mantle of "continuity candidate" in a party still very fond of its outgoing leader.

But he and his ministers are now keen to talk about a "fresh start" and are reviewing many aspects of the running of the party and the agenda of the government.

Mr Yousaf made some major announcements on Tuesday which look like an attempted reset

He is hitting pause on the National Care Service and the Deposit Return Scheme, and reviewing a ban on alcohol advertising - all key pillars of Ms Sturgeon's policy platform.

That her seat on the back benches is empty might be symbolic. The Sturgeon era at Holyrood appears to be well and truly over.