Police investigations into the finances of the Scottish National Party (SNP) have spun a web in which Nicola Sturgeon was inevitably caught. The leader of the pro-independence movement and the autonomous territory’s most popular and respected prime minister for more than seven years was arrested at her home this Sunday and subjected to interrogation. The same process that her husband Peter Murrell and later former party treasurer Colin Beattie had to go through. In both cases, the arrest situation ended after a few hours, without any precautionary measures.
The arrest of Sturgeon – who left office on February 15 following controversy surrounding the passage of Scotland’s Gender Recognition Act and after the Supreme Court blocked the Scottish Parliament from calling a new independence referendum – came two months after the arrest interrogated her husband for 11 hours on April 5 and then released due to his connection to the case. The former prime minister was taken to police stations for questioning.
In the period between the two arrests, the SNP conducted a primary election process that ended with the election of Humza Yousaf, a Muslim politician of Pakistani descent. The police authorities continued their investigations, participating in cooperation with the National Crime Agency (specializing in fighting organized crime). sturgeon Prosecutors preferred to postpone the new trial until the process of selecting a new independence movement leader, who was in turn immediately appointed as the new Scottish Prime Minister, was complete.
“A 52-year-old woman was arrested today, June 11, 2023, as a suspect in connection with an ongoing inquiry into the finances of the Scottish National Party,” Scottish Police said on Twitter. “The woman is in custody and is being questioned by the police.” After 4pm, British public television, the BBC, confirmed that the person arrested was Sturgeon.
Police are investigating the fate of just over €680,000 raised by the party in 2017 as part of the campaign to hold a second independence referendum in Scotland (the first was held in 2014, before Brexit) and which are said to have been used for other purposes . Scottish media reported a few months ago that Murrell was involved in the investigation because of an interest-free loan of around €12,000 he had given the SNP. At the time, Sturgeon’s strength in her party and in the popularity polls allowed the then Prime Minister to weather the storm with ease and downplay the allegations.
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A spokeswoman for the former prime minister said Sturgeon himself had come to make a statement and said she intended to help clarify the facts. “The matter is the subject of ongoing police investigations,” a party spokesman said after learning of the arrest. “The SNP has actively participated in the investigation and will continue to do so,” he added.
No to the second referendum
The legal blow from the UK Supreme Court to Sturgeon’s bid to hold a new independence referendum at the end of November – the judges rejected the possibility of a call by Scotland’s Home Rule Parliament as London refused to give its consent – began a rapid decline in Sturgeon’s popularity. The idea of turning the next UK general election, scheduled for late 2024, into a de facto consultation on independence did not convince a majority of SNP members, who saw great uncertainty and unilateralism in the formula. For many of them, the idea of changing the direction of the election was an unnecessary ploy by the Scottish Labor Party, which dominated the region until the SNP took control.
The controversy surrounding gender identity law reform, which Sturgeon pushed forward without undue popular support, increased pressure on the Scottish Government. Without giving reasons, but with all these issues on the table, Sturgeon resigned as prime minister and leader of the SNP last February, prompting an internal election in which candidate Humza Yousaf won. He was management’s favorite and conveyed a message of continuity, but also conveyed a sense that the crisis in the party had ended incorrectly.
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