NICOLA Sturgeon has said she is frustrated she is “not able to get her version” of events on what is happening while the police investigation continues into the SNP’s finances.
The former first minister spoke to the media as she returned to Holyrood on Tuesday for the first time since her husband Peter Murrell was arrested as part of the police investigation into the party's finances, saying it had been a “traumatic” time.
Here are some of the key points after she was quizzed on issues including the police investigation, the resignation of the party’s auditors, the state of the SNP and relations with her successor Humza Yousaf.
Unanswered questions
Sturgeon told journalists there are many questions she wants to be able to answer – but that she was not going to go into any details that would “impinge” on the police investigation.
When asked if this was her worst nightmare, she said the last few weeks had been “very difficult”.
She said: “I've had many difficult periods in a political career that has lasted over several decades, and I think you can safely say that the last few weeks have been amongst the most difficult, but it is what it is, and I accept that.”
She went on: “I hope to be able to stand before you and address many of these questions fully. I can't do that just now, for reasons you understand.
“I also hope to be able to put a counter to many of the things that have been said right now.”
The MSP for Glasgow Southside, who was making her first appearance at the Scottish Parliament since the arrests of Murrell and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, who were both released without charge, also said she intended to stay at Holyrood.
The police investigation
The former first minister said she had not been questioned by police and when asked if she was expected to be, said she was “not going to get into any aspect of the investigation”.
She said she understood the process that is underway but “one of the frustrating aspects of that is that I'm not able to get my version of what is going on just now”.
“Hopefully, the time will come when I can do that,” she added.
She also again denied the police investigation had anything to do with her resignation in February.
“Of course, I understand that people are now looking back at that and saying, well, was there something more to it? But there wasn’t," she said.
“If you are saying to me back then or at any time until it happened, I could have anticipated what happened almost three weeks ago, the answer is no. I didn't and couldn't have done so.”
Asked if she was surprised when the police arrived on the doorstep to arrest her husband and search her home, she said: “I think you can probably take the answer from that as yes.”
On the motorhome which was confiscated from the home of former SNP chief Murrell's mum, she said she was “not going to get into anything that is subject to police investigation.”
When asked how her husband was Sturgeon replied: “I think as you would expect it's difficult, but like me respecting the process that is underway.”
The resignation of party auditors
One of the issues facing the party is the need to appoint new auditors after the resignation of its accounting firm six months ago.
Key figures including Yousaf, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and depute leader Keith Brown have also said they only learned of the situation recently.
Sturgeon said she “fully appreciated” people were seeing the issue through the prism of what has happened in the past few weeks.
But she added: “The auditors stepped down from representing the SNP not because of the police investigation but as part of a review of their own business and a process was under way to appoint new auditors - a procurement was under way.
“So while people are seeing that now through prism of recent events, at the time there was nothing untowards in that process of appointing new auditors.”
When asked if others in the party should have been informed about the situation, she responded: “The national treasurer was involved in a process to procure new auditors.
“You can apply - and I am not sort of complaining about this, I understand why people are applying hindsight to this, but at the time that was not something that was untoward.”
The state of the SNP
Sturgeon said all parties face difficulties after a lengthy time in government and she believes the SNP will be able to renew “as it has done in the past”.
“I believe the SNP is a party in touch with the people of Scotland, delivering for the people of Scotland,” she added.
Quizzed on whether there was a problem with secrecy and transparency under her leadership, she said: “I think that’s for other people to judge and I fully support the action that Humza and the National Executive Committee have taken.
“I am never going to be objective in answering questions about my leadership, nobody is, that is human nature. I am proud of my leadership of the SNP and what it achieved.”
Relations with her successor
Sturgeon said she had not spoken to Yousaf since the arrest of her husband Peter Murrell and subsequent events engulfing the SNP.
She said: “This aside I've got an insight from personal experience into how busy, how eventful and how all consuming and absorbing becoming first minister is.
“Humza even without this had a few weeks that have been very eventful for him and I will speak to Humza in due course.
“All I will say about Humza just now is I think in very difficult circumstances he is doing an outstanding job as First Minister and he continues to have my support.”
