SNP donations will not be reimbursed, says Yousaf

Humza Yousaf told LBC that supporters would not be reimbursed for donations

SNP supporters who donated money to the party for independence campaigning will not be reimbursed, the first minister has said.

Humza Yousaf was asked whether the cash would be returned if a referendum did not take place within the next year.

Complaints about donations sparked the police probe into SNP finances.

Mr Yousaf also told broadcaster LBC he had not spoken to Nicola Sturgeon since her husband Peter Murrell was arrested and released without charge.

The party's treasurer, Colin Beattie, was arrested almost two weeks later before also being released while further investigations are carried out. He has since resigned as treasurer.

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Speaking on the Tonight with Andrew Marr programme, Mr Yousaf said it would be "very dangerous" for him to comment while the police investigation was taking place.

But he said: "Money that is raised from the membership by the party, we're going to spend that in advancing the cause of independence referendum.

"We're not reimbursing people for the donations that they have made.

"People make donations to the party because they want to advance the cause of independence. Every pound and penny that we spend as a party will be on advancing the cause of independence."

Sturgeon 'welfare'

Mr Yousaf appeared on the programme during a visit to London, which included his first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since becoming first minister.

Although he said he had not contacted his predecessor Ms Sturgeon since ex-SNP chief executive Mr Murrell's arrest, he said he wanted to check in with her during what will have been a "difficult period".

The former first minister told journalists on Tuesday afternoon that the crisis which had engulfed the party in recent weeks had been her "worst nightmare".

Ms Sturgeon said the police investigation into the party's finances did not influence her decision to stand down from the role she had held for eight years.

Mr Yousaf said: "Nicola and I will speak though. And we'll do that once she hopefully returns back to Holyrood. And I think that would be the right place to do that. Of course, I want to check in with her and her welfare."

Police Scotland launched its Operation Branchform investigation in July 2021 after receiving complaints about how more than £600,000 of donations raised by activists for a future independence referendum campaign were spent.

Questions were raised after accounts showed the SNP had just under £97,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, and total net assets of about £272,000.

Last year it emerged that Mr Murrell gave a loan of more than £100,000 to the SNP to help it out with a "cash flow" issue after the last election.

The party had repaid about half of the loan by November of that year, but Mr Yousaf admitted last week that it still owed money to Mr Murrell.

The party's auditors quit last September, with the party facing a race against time to file its accounts with the Electoral Commission by 7 July. It has still not found a new auditor.

The SNP's Westminster group, which was also left without an auditor and has not yet found a replacement, faces losing £1.2m in public funding if fails to file its accounts by 31 May.