Nicola Sturgeon is facing mounting pressure to resign from the SNP after a video was leaked that appeared to show her attempting to stop the investigation into the party’s finances.
Following the release of a video showing the former Scottish First Minister downplaying concerns about financial difficulties, the party announced that she would not be visiting Holyrood this week.
The Daily Record claims to have obtained video from a meeting of the party’s governing board in March 2021, only days before police started looking into concerns regarding party finances.
Almost £667,000 that was set aside for a future fight for Scottish independence, according to an activist, may have been diverted for other uses.
During the meeting, Ms. Sturgeon, the then-leader of the SNP, assured the National Executive Committee that the party’s finances had “never been stronger” and issued cautions over the effect that disclosing any financial issues publicly might have on donors.
She advised authorities to exercise “extreme caution” when implying that party accounts may have “any problems.”
After her replacement Humza Yousaf was compelled to deny the party was “close to bankruptcy” in response to a stern warning from its treasurer, the discoveries drag Ms. Sturgeon further into the turmoil consuming her party.
Scottish Conservatives were among those calling for Ms. Sturgeon to be suspended, while Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, claimed that the nation’s political concerns were “playing second fiddle” to the “terminal SNP soap opera”.
In February, Ms. Sturgeon unexpectedly resigned as leader.
A long-running police inquiry into the finances of the SNP led to the arrest of her husband, Peter Murrell, earlier this month, and authorities searched the couple’s home.
He was released without being charged while an inquiry was ongoing.
READ MORE : Humza Yousaf promises to bring an independent Scotland back into the EU