SCOTTISH Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has said the SNP have “serious questions to put to rest” and warned the party’s crisis must not deflect from the work of the Scottish Government.
The MSP for Glasgow, whose party is in a power-sharing agreement with the SNP, said they intended to “crack on” with delivering policies while the investigations were taking place.
The ongoing police investigation into the SNP’s funding, which centres on how more than £600,000 in donations to the party earmarked for an independence referendum was used, has seen its former chief executive and treasurer arrested.
Both Peter Murrell – who is Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – and Colin Beattie were released without charge pending further investigation, while a motorhome which was intended to be used for party campaigning was seized from the driveway of the home of Murrell’s mother.
Beattie stepped down from the role of SNP treasurer last week.
Harvie said there was a limit to what anyone can say about the situation because of the ongoing police investigation.
But he told the Sunday National: “There are serious question marks and the SNP as a party are going to have to – as they have said they will – engage fully with the inquiries and give the information required in order to put those questions to rest.
“It is an internal matter for the SNP, but I think it is really important though, that this doesn’t deflect the Scottish Government from continuing to deliver for the people of Scotland.
“We have got an ambitious policy programme – in the next while, I am going to be signing off a consultation on heating buildings.
“That is one of the most urgent things we can do – to cut people’s living costs and cut carbon emissions, to protect ourselves from not just the climate emergency but this energy crisis and the next energy crisis – is to help people get off of gas, get off of fossil fuels for heating their homes and invest in energy efficiency.
“It’s a huge transformational agenda and if work like that – which might not grab headlines as much as a campervan getting seized – gets deflected or disrupted by this process, that would be the worst thing.”
He added: “We need to acknowledge this is a matter for the SNP, they need to deal with the investigations that are happening but we will crack on with policy delivery in the meantime.”
The latest poll on voting intentions at the next Holyrood election, published by YouGov last week, has brought good news for the Greens.
The survey indicated the party would win 14 seats, up six from the 2021 Holyrood election, which would also mean a pro-independence majority of one seat despite a drop in support for the SNP.
It found the SNP’s constituency vote share has dropped to 38%, the joint-lowest since the independence referendum in 2014, with the party on course to have 51 seats.
