The Scottish National party (SNP) faced accusations of “embezzling” voters on Tuesday as the scandal over Peter Murrell’s misuse of £400,000 from party funds overshadowed a Holyrood motion calling for a second independence referendum. First Minister John Swinney tabled the symbolic vote, fulfilling an election promise, but opposition leaders seized on Murrell’s guilty plea to attack the SNP’s priorities.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the timing of the debate, amid global insecurity and a cost-of-living crisis, showed the SNP’s selfishness. Referring to Murrell’s embezzlement of donations from party members, Sarwar argued the SNP had “embezzled” voters of opportunities for 20 years. “People who are their most vociferous supporters asked to put their hard-earned cash into a movement that they believed in,” he said. “What did the people that were charged with the responsibility do? They robbed them of that opportunity.”
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay described the debate’s timing as “comical” and accused Swinney of helping to quash concerns about party finances before the police investigation. He highlighted that Nicola Sturgeon, who was cleared of wrongdoing, had repeatedly said “no comment” to detectives, calling this “the tactics of organised crime”. Findlay questioned how Swinney could be trusted with Scotland’s finances after failing to detect Murrell’s theft.
Swinney offered no new legal arguments for a referendum, instead challenging pro-UK parties to accept Scotland’s right to self-determination. The motion was backed by Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer, who argued that the SNP’s 58 seats and the Greens’ 15 seats constituted the “biggest ever” pro-independence majority. However, Scottish Tories’ Craig Hoy countered that pro-UK parties won 59% of regional votes on 7 May, while the SNP and Greens secured only 41%. Greer dismissed this as “anti-democratic games”.
