NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE I t’s been nearly a decade since Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom. Over the past ten years, independence has remained an almost singular priority of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Evidently, the party failed to deliver. In February, Nicola Sturgeon, the party leader, stepped down as first minister of Scotland. Now, her legacy and party face even bigger problems: Last week, she was arrested as part of Police Scotland’s ongoing investigation into the SNP’s finances.
Failing to keep your word on a political promise is one thing. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for a second independence referendum (indyref2), and then failing to account for how the money was spent, is another. The indyref2 campaign was launched after the Brexit vote in March 2017. It began with Sturgeon appearing in a video encouraging nationalists to make donations. The party raked in an initial £482,000. In April 2019, Sturgeon rebooted the fundraising efforts with the website Yes.Scot, bringing the total figure to £666,953 — around $750,000.
The Telegraph has a helpful timeline of what happened next: In the fall 2020, the SNP’s published accounts attracted scrutiny from nationalists after the numbers didn’t square. At the end of 2019, the party had just under £97,000 in the bank, and total net assets of around £272,000. The SNP treasurer, Colin Beattie, issued a statement to “quash rumors” of fraud. Then, in March 2021, three members of the SNP’s finance committee quit after they were not allowed to review the party’s accounts.
In May 2021, the new SNP treasurer, Douglas Chapman, also resigned, again citing a lack of transparency. Beattie returned to replace him in the role. In June 2021, Peter Murrell — the SNP’s chief executive and Sturgeon’s husband — loaned the SNP £107,620 “to assist with cashflow,” an intervention the party did not declare to the Electoral Commission until over a year later. A month after Murrell’s loan was declared, the SNP’s auditor quit.
As the police investigation continued, so did public scrutiny. In early February 2023, Sturgeon said that she couldn’t remember when her husband, Murrell, had loaned the party money but that “what he does with his resources is a matter for him.” She resigned two weeks later. Since then, she, Murrell, Beattie (who has subsequently quit as SNP treasurer) have all been arrested and released without charge, pending further investigation.
Sturgeon loudly maintains her innocence. Following her release from police custody, she wrote in a statement on Twitter: “Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.” She asserted the same to reporters when they asked if she’d be stepping back from the party.
Sturgeon has the support of the new first minister, Humza Yousaf, as well as other party members who sent her flowers after her arrest. But some prominent SNP members have called for her suspension or resignation. According to the pollster Savanta, Sturgeon’s approval ratings with the public are now seven points underwater — a 35-point drop since December 2020.
Sturgeon has been able to take some cover under the Contempt of Court Act 1981. The BBC explains that the law “means everyone has to be careful about what they say to avoid potentially prejudicing any future trial” — and “everyone” includes politicians, journalists and even members of the public on social media. The law is “interpreted much more strictly in Scotland than in some other parts of the world,” and breaking it is punishable by up to two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
The former first minister has also been helped by a similar fall from grace south of the border: that of former prime minister Boris Johnson, who resigned as a member of parliament earlier this month after it became clear that he would not survive a parliamentary report about his illegal lockdown parties at Downing Street.
Nevertheless, as these distractions wane, the finance probe will continue to taint Sturgeon’s legacy. Whether fraudulent or incompetent, there can be little doubt that Nicola Sturgeon has left her party and country worse off.