Nicola Sturgeon's husband sparks questions after £100,000 loan to SNP

Nicola Sturgeon’s husband has sparked questions after providing the SNP with a personal loan of more than £100,000.

Peter Murrell, the chief executive of the SNP, lent the cash “to assist with cashflow” after the Holyrood election last year.

The Scottish Conservatives said it was “beyond odd” for Mr Murrell to be lending his employer a six-figure sum.

The Electoral Commission said the loan was reported late, but it had addressed this by simply providing “guidance to the party”, partly due to the SNP’s “good compliance record”.

Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, who is the chief executive of the SNP. Picture: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images

Records show the loan of £107,620 was made in June 2021. A total of £47,620 was repaid to Mr Murrell in the following months.

The SNP’s accounts for 2021 list it as simply “loans from executive management”, and state £60,000 remained outstanding at the end of last year.

The SNP ended 2021 with a deficit of £751,572, leaving it with reserves of £610,765, down from £1,362,337.

There is an ongoing police probe into the party’s use of more than £600,000 of donations earmarked for referendum campaigning.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said: “The role played by Peter Murrell in the SNP grows murkier by the day. It is beyond odd for the SNP chief executive – and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – to be lending his employer a six-figure sum of money.

“This highly unusual move comes on top of an ongoing police probe into the ‘missing’ £600k of donations. This cash was meant to be ring-fenced for another indyref campaign, yet a string of people left senior posts in the party citing a lack of financial transparency.

“It’s high time the SNP came clean to their own members about what is actually going on and explained why their chief executive is making such large loans to the party his wife leads.”

An SNP spokesman said: “The loan was reported in our 2021 accounts, which were published by the Electoral Commission in mid-August.

"The nature of this transaction was initially not thought to give rise to a reporting obligation. However, as it had been recorded in the party's 2021 accounts as a loan, it was accordingly then reported to the Electoral Commission as a regulated transaction.

"This was a personal contribution made by the chief executive to assist with cashflow after the Holyrood election.”