Call for Holyrood and Westminster to hold joint inquiry into Murrell crimes

Former Labour first minister Jack McConnell has said that both the UK and Scottish parliaments should hold a joint inquiry into Peter Murrell's financial crimes.

Last week, Murrell, the former SNP chief executive and estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the group over 12 years.

Lord McConnell has ordered that the Public Accounts Committee in Westminster and Holyrood's Public Audit Committee look into the matter together.

It came after Sturgeon, who spoke with Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC, denied identifying or knowing Murrell's wrongdoing.

McConnell, the first minister from 2001 to 2007, told BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast that

would like to see the two parliaments coming together

to look at the corruption.

A separate Holyrood inquiry may be seen as presiding over a cover-up, according to the peer, while a Westminster one might be seen doing a hatchet job on the SNP.

Lord McConnell said a joint inquiry should investigate whether the relationship between Scotland's prosecution service – the Crown Office and Prosecutors Fiscal Service (COPFS) – and politicians in the Scottish government had been too close.

It should also investigate whether public funds provided to Westminster's SNP were embezzled and whether safeguards for small donors to political parties and movements should be introduced, according to the minister.

Let's get to the bottom of this, he said. "Let's ensure that political parties and political movements in the future, as well as Scotland's legislative system, are shielded in the public's interest.

MSPs were concerned over the role of Scotland's top law officer, Dorothy Bain, after it emerged that she informed First Minister John Swinney information about Murrell's charges well before they became public.

Bain, the government's chief prosecutor and the government counsel, defended her conduct, saying she had no involvement in the investigation and that the disclosure of Swinney was common practice in high-profile situations.

It's not clear how a joint inquiry would function in practice, considering that there has never been one in the 27 years since the devolved Scottish Parliament opened.

Calls have also been sent for separate Holyrood and Westminster enquiries.

First Minister John Swinney has dismissed calls for any parliamentary inquiry, arguing that his party has expanded its control and that an inquiry would not add to a lengthy and detailed police probe.

He has also denied that any public funds from the UK Parliament were embezzled and has stated that the prosecution service operates independently of government.

Swinney's opposition to an investigation, according to Lord McConnell, was a significant mistake, accusing the SNP leadership of "digging their heels in.

Swinney was encouraged to reflect that a joint inquiry might be in the public interest and possibly in the party's interest as well.

Swinney and Sturgeon have been accused of putting aside questions over SNP finances, according to critics.

They point to the resignation of senior party officials in 2021, including former treasurer Douglas Chapman, who claim that they were not given access to crucial information.

Joanna Cherry, an ex-MP who resigned from the SNP's leadership in 2021 due to a lack of transparency, has recently stated that concerns were not acknowledged by party leaders.

I reject completely the belief that people were trying to alert the party to the kind of behavior that Peter pled guilty to on Monday,

Sturgeon told Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC on Sunday.

Last week, Swinneys said he was not unaware of being worried about declining party finances.

He denied calls for a Holyrood probe, saying, We know exactly what happened in the Murrell case.

You can't get a higher degree of probe in Scotland than a forensic police probe that results in a successful high court trial and a guilty plea,

the first minister told the BBC.

A probe into Edinburgh will be launched by Holyrood's Parliamentary Bureau, a cross-party management body. It is chaired by the politically neutral presiding officer and is made up of one MSP each from the SNP, Greens, Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Reform.

The Scottish Affairs Committee, which has also been advised to open an investigation, is not expected to announce a decision for at least a week.

In 2023, a forensic inquiry into SNP finances led to the arrest of a Sturgeon, who was released without charge. She was told last year that she was no longer under scrutiny.

The belief that there was something in the accounts that would have alerted me to what Peter pleaded guilty to is untrue,

the former prime minister, who was jointly responsible for authorising SNP accounts during her eight years in charge of the party, told the BBC.

"I suspect the police and the Crown Office would have arrived at a different position on me if there had been one.

After nearly 15 years, the former first minister announced last year that her marriage to Murrell was ending.

Murrell is set to be convicted later this month.

A COPFS spokesperson replied to McConnell, saying: "Professional prosecutors from COPFS and independent counsel dealt with this case without involving the Lord Advocate or Solicitor General. Both Scotland's lawyers work independently of political clout.

"To the Scottish Parliament, the lord advocate's office has been explained.