Nicola Sturgeon: Scotland’s ex-first minister in custody after being arrested in connection with SNP investigation

Nicola Sturgeon is in custody after being arrested in connection with the investigation into the Scottish National Party’s finances.

Scotland’s former first minister and ex-SNP leader was detained as a suspect and is currently being questioned by detectives.

A Police Scotland statement said: “A 52-year-old woman has today, Sunday, 11 June, 2023, been arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party.”

“The woman is in custody and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives.

“A report will be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.”

A spokesperson for Ms Sturgeon said: “Nicola Sturgeon has today, Sunday 11 June, by arrangement with Police Scotland, attended an interview where she was to be arrested and questioned in relation to Operation Branchform.

“Nicola has consistently said she would co-operate with the investigation if asked and continues to do so.”

Scotland’s former first minister is the latest high-profile figure in the party to be detained as part of Police Scotland’s Operation Branchform into the whereabouts of £600,000 of funding that had been earmarked for a second independence vote.

It is understood there have been complaints the ringfenced cash may have been used improperly by being spent elsewhere.

Her arrest comes on the back of the detentions of party treasurer Colin Beattie and former party chief executive Peter Murrell – also Ms Sturgeon’s husband – who were both subsequently released without charge.

Police previously searched the SNP headquarters and Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell’s home as part of the investigation.

A luxury £100,000 motorhome was also seized from outside the home of Mr Murrell’s mother in Dunfermline, Fife.

The SNP has said it has been “cooperating fully” with the investigation and would “continue to do so”.

Ms Sturgeon’s arrest will intensify the scandal that has engulfed Scotland’s largest political party just months after she stood down as party leader and first minister in February.

At the time, Ms Sturgeon said she was quitting because the job “takes its toll on you and all around you”.

She she said she believed part of “serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right” to step down, adding: “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now, that it is right for me and my party and for the country.”

But months later, Mr Murrell was arrested – creating a sense of turmoil that has overshadowed the new leadership of Humza Yousaf, who was elected to replace Ms Sturgeon in a bitter and divisive leadership race in March.

Mr Yousaf previously said he was unaware the SNP owned a £100,000 motorhome until he became party leader.

He also admitted that he was unaware that the SNP’s longstanding auditors, Johnston Carmichael, had quit in September 2022 following a review of their client portfolio until he became party leader.

The party had been under pressure to find new auditors in order to file its accounts with the Electoral Commission by 7 July or risk being fined.

Last month Mr Yousaf confirmed the SNP had signed a contract with a new auditor more than half a year after the previous firm quit.

Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary Ian Murray MP said Ms Sturgeon’s arrest was a “deeply concerning development”.

“The Police Scotland investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference.

“For too long, a culture of secrecy and cover-up has been allowed to fester at the heart of the SNP.

“The same culture that leads to police tents in front gardens created the deeply dysfunctional government that is currently failing Scots.

“Humza Yousaf must urgently come clean on what he knows – the people of Scotland deserve answers.”