Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said “I’ve done nothing wrong” as she returned home for the first time following her arrest last Sunday.
Her statement came as a Sunday Times poll suggested Labour would defeat the SNP at the next election for the first time since 2010 to become Scotland’s largest party at Westminster.
The Panelbase poll for the Sunday Times – the first to be wholly conducted since Sturgeon’s arrest – signals a significant downturn for the SNP. The party would hold just 21 seats at the next general election, its poorest result for 13 years, it indicated.
Sturgeon was questioned by police investigating the SNP’s finances and released without charge on 11 June pending further investigation.
Returning to her home, near Glasgow, on Sunday, she said: “I can’t say very much just now. What I will say is reiterate the statement I issued last Sunday, I’m certain that I have done nothing wrong. I intend to be back in parliament in the early part of the week. I’ll make myself available for questions then. For now I intend to go home and catch up with some family.”
Asked whether she had considered stepping back from the SNP, Sturgeon said: “I’ve done nothing wrong and that is the only thing I’m going to assert today.”
She asked for privacy for herself and her neighbours, saying: “I know I’m a public figure, I accept what comes with that, but I’m also a human being that’s entitled to a bit of privacy and my neighbours are also entitled to a bit of that as well.”
Asked whether conditions had been placed on her arrest, she said: “No, and I’m not going to get into anything other than that.”
When asked whether she would have suspended herself, she said: “Look, I’ve done nothing wrong, it’s for others to comment as they see fit but that’s my position.”
The Sunday Times poll suggested Labour was on course to win a majority of seats in Scotland by returning 26 MPs to Westminster – up from its current tally of one.
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, and Anas Sarwar, his Scottish Labour counterpart, are due to announce details of the party’s plans for green energy on Monday.
In an interview with BBC One’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Sarwar said he wanted Scotland and the UK to “lead the world in the green revolution” as Labour prepared to unveil its energy plans.
The Scottish Labour leader said Great British Energy, a new, publicly owned clean energy company, would help realise that ambition.
Labour recently backtracked on its £28bn green prosperity plan in an attempt to underline its commitment to “financial stability”. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said drastic changes to the economic backdrop over the past two years meant the party’s full spending pledge should be delayed.
Labour had promised in 2021 to invest £28bn a year until 2030 in green projects if it came to power, but Reeves said this figure would instead be a target to work towards in the second half of a first parliament.
Sarwar said the move demonstrated the party was “being realistic about the economic circumstances we’re currently living in”. He also said there would be “no cliff edge”, when asked about the party’s policy to ban new oil and gas extraction licences in the North Sea and whether it would lead to job losses.
