Three Holyrood committees have declined to work with Members of Parliament (MPs) on an investigation into the embezzlement scandal involving Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the Scottish National Party (SNP).
This refusal by the finance, public audit, and standards committees to collaborate with the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC) makes a separate inquiry initiated by Westminster more likely. Labour MP Patricia Ferguson, chair of the SAC, had written in July to the Holyrood committees suggesting potential joint working to explore issues surrounding the case.
Murrell, 61, was sentenced to over five years in prison in June after admitting to embezzling approximately £400,000 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022, during which time he served as the party's top official. He was married to Nicola Sturgeon for the duration of this period, including eight years when she led the SNP and served as First Minister of Scotland. It was reported that Murrell spent thousands of pounds of the embezzled funds on luxury items for their home.
Despite internal warnings within the SNP about inadequate financial controls and Murrell's excessive power, current SNP leader John Swinney has resisted calls for an internal party inquiry. Sturgeon has stated she was unaware of her husband's criminal activities.
In her correspondence, Ferguson noted that while police investigations and Murrell's prosecution established criminal culpability, "some of the wider issues raised may merit examination." She suggested that some issues fell under Holyrood's jurisdiction, while others spanned both parliaments. Ferguson indicated a preference for Holyrood to lead scrutiny but proposed joint or coordinated work between the committees to comprehensively address both reserved and devolved matters if no inquiry was initiated in Scotland.
However, the conveners of the relevant Holyrood committees rebuffed the request. SNP finance convener Clare Haughey stated the matter was outside her committee's remit. Neil Bibby, Labour chair of the Public Audit Committee, cited consultations with the Auditor General for Scotland, which indicated that factors such as the Auditor General's remit not covering political party funding would preclude such an undertaking. SNP Standards convener Jenni Minto noted that the balance of views among her committee's MSPs was that it was unclear if the scrutiny of these issues fell within their remit or current priorities.
Ferguson stated that the SAC would consider the responses from the three Holyrood committees later in the week. The potential for an inquiry in the House of Lords has also been suggested by Labour peer George Foulkes.