AN SNP MP said he has been told the party’s finances are in “good health” amid an ongoing police investigation into their funding.
Stewart Hosie, the SNP’s economy spokesperson in Westminster, told the BBC on Tuesday the party were not “close to bankruptcy” – despite the most recent Electoral Commission figures showing they were running a deficit of £751,572.
Challenged by Politics Live host Jo Coburn on whether the party was on the brink of financial ruin, Hosie said: “No, the party isn’t close to bankruptcy, I’ve got absolutely no doubt that the party’s finances are in good health.”
Coburn questioned how the MP knew about the party’s financial health and whether he knew that or “you’ve been told that”.
Hosie responded: “That’s correct because I’ve been told that, I believe that’s the case. And you make an interesting point, I’m going to be careful in what I say because someone has been arrested.”
He added: “This investigation has been going on for two years. Nobody has yet been charged with anything. I think the sooner this is brought to a head – whether someone is charged, or not – the better, to be brutally honest.
“It does however throw up the slightly larger problem that goes beyond the SNP about political funding and scrutiny and transparency.
“I’m going to be really honest, I do not think this is a good look. I will be extremely honest and say there’s an awful lot more, as Humza Yousaf has said, that can be done in terms of transparency for party members because it’s their money mainly and I think that’s really important.
“Yes, there are a large number of things which can be done, which the National Executive [Committee (NEC)] have already put in place so that we can deliver the transparency that people want and need from all political parties.
“I think we need to put in place mechanisms which deliver much more transparency, so if someone asks a question about the finances or the membership, they get the answer they need and they get when they need it.”
The Dundee MP also pointed to a report from the site openDemocracy in 2022, which revealed that the Conservative Party had spent £3.6 million during the 2019 election campaign which went unaccounted for. The elections authority told the site it was “not proportionate” to take action against the party.
The SNP is currently subject to a police investigation into its funding and finances which has resulted in the arrest of two party mandarins.
Former chief executive Peter Murrell was arrested earlier in the month and released without charge while on Tuesday morning, treasurer Colin Beattie was taken into custody for questioning.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, First Minister Humza Yousaf responded to a video published by the Sunday Mail which showed his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon warning party members against asking questions about the SNP’s financial health.
He said the most recent figures showed a deficit because they came just before the party fought an expensive election campaign and pledged to review why senior members of the party were kept in the dark about key financial information including the resignation of the SNP’s auditors.
Yousaf said: “That video is from March 2021. As we were in the midst of, about to be fighting, of course, a Holyrood election. That tends to be the case that you fundraise in advance of an election. You tend to spend quite a fair bit of money during an election.
“After the election, of course, is when you want to make sure that you can address any cash flow issues that you may have as a result of that big spend during the election. So I wasn't particularly disturbed at all by the video in a way that some of our opponents seemed to be.”
The NEC, the SNP’s ruling body, committed at the weekend to review its internal processes and governance in the interests improving openness following a string of recent scandals.
