A former first minister has called for a joint inquiry between Holyrood and Westminster into Peter Murrell’s embezzlement of SNP funds.
Lord Jack McConnell said the Commons Public Accounts Committee should hold a probe with the equivalent Scottish Parliament committee.
Murrell – the ex-husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon – this week pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh to embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022.
Lord McConnell, who was Scottish Labour leader and first minister between 2001 and 2007, made his comments after Ms Sturgeon gave her first broadcast interview since her estranged husband pleaded guilty.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Lord McConnell said the issues around how former SNP chief executive Murrell was able to embezzle the money are “issues that are UK-wide.”
He said: “This is about the fact that the SNP were the third largest party at Westminster for the best part of 10 years.
“They received over that time millions of pounds of public money to organise their party affairs.
“Obviously there are also issues about, signing off accounts, and how seriously that was all taken, and I think on all these areas there are issues to be looked at, and recommendations that must be made. So I think this should be a joint public inquiry.
“I think it should probably be led by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons but it should be done equally and jointly with the equivalent committee at Holyrood.
“So it’s not seen to be the UK Parliament poking its nose into Scottish politics, but the issues about political party funding, about public money, and about the way in which the transparency of political parties’ use of small donations, the protection for small donors.
“These are issues that are UK-wide. They’re issues for the Electoral Commission and for the UK Parliament.”
First Minister John Swinney has so far rejected calls for a Holyrood inquiry into the embezzlement which has led Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee to consider its own probe, which eight of the 11 members support.
There is only one Scottish MP on the Public Accounts Committee – Labour’s Chris Kane.
The Scottish Affairs Committee is made up of almost all Scottish MPs. The SNP has just one of the 11 places, with six Labour members, two Tories and two Lib Dems.
Lord McConnell continued: “These things are always difficult in terms of the balance, and nobody ever questions the neutrality of the Public Accounts Committee.
“So I think it is the right committee to do this, and … I don’t think they should do it on their own, I think they should do it jointly with (Holyrood).
“I think that might be a first, I don’t think there’s ever been a joint committee of this sort.
“But … what better cause to have (it for)? The purpose of it should be to make recommendations to stop this happening again in any party.
“It should not just be about getting to the bottom of what happened in the SNP, it should be about: how do we strengthen our democracy?”
A Public Accounts Committee spokesperson said: “The committee is aware of calls for it to launch an inquiry into the Scottish National Party’s use of public money, and will in due course consider whether to do so.”
A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “Decisions about the establishment of committees are a matter for the (Parliamentary) Bureau.”
