SNP meltdown claims by Tories after Colin Beattie's arrest

The Scottish Conservatives say the SNP is in "total meltdown" after treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested by police investigating the party's finances.

The 71-year-old has been taken into custody and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives.

First Minister Humza Yousaf said Mr Beattie's arrest was "clearly a very serious matter indeed".

But he added that the MSP had not been suspended from the party as "people are innocent until proven guilty".

Mr Beattie's arrest was announced just hours before Mr Yousaf set out his government's priorities for the next three years.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Conservatives' deputy leader Meghan Gallacher said the SNP was "in total meltdown".

She urged the first minister to suspend his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, and her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, from the party. Her calls were rejected by Mr Yousaf.

Mr Murrell was arrested two weeks ago, before being released without charge pending further investigation.

Police Scotland launched its Operation Branchform investigation into the SNP's finances in July 2021 after receiving complaints about how donations were used.

The SNP raised £666,953 through referendum-related appeals between 2017 and 2020 with a pledge to spend these funds on the independence campaign.

Questions were raised after its accounts showed it had just under £97,000 in the bank at the end of 2019, and total net assets of about £272,000.

Officers involved in the investigation spent two days searching the Glasgow home of Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon, and the party's headquarters in Edinburgh earlier this month.

A luxury motorhome was seized by officers from outside a property in Dunfermline on the same morning that Mr Murrell was arrested.

The Mail on Sunday reported that the vehicle had been parked outside the home of Mr Murrell's 92-year-old mother since January 2021.

Mr Beattie is the MSP for the Midlothian North and Musselburgh constituency and is a former international banker.

He was arrested at his home in Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, at about 08:00 on Tuesday morning.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that he had told the party's ruling national executive committee (NEC) that the SNP was struggling to balance its books due to a drop in member numbers and donors.

Mr Beattie served as the SNP's treasurer for 16 years before being defeated in an internal election by Douglas Chapman in 2020, but returned to the role when Mr Chapman resigned a year later.

Mr Chapman quit after saying he had "not received the support or financial information" that was needed to carry out his duties as treasurer.

Mr Yousaf has rejected calls for Mr Murrell and Ms Sturgeon to be suspended from the party, amid speculation that she may be preparing to quit as an MSP.

The former first minister has already confirmed she will not be attending the Scottish Parliament in person this week.

Mr Yousaf was seen as the "continuity candidate" during the leadership contest, and was the preferred candidate of the party hierarchy - including Ms Sturgeon.

He had hoped his speech on Tuesday would allow him to set out a "fresh vision" for his government after a tumultuous three weeks in his new job.

Speaking to journalists ahead of his statement, Mr Yousaf said Mr Beattie's arrest was "clearly a very serious matter indeed" but he had not been suspended from the party as "people are innocent until proven guilty".

The first minister said he believed Mr Beattie was still being questioned at a police station, but said he would speak to him afterwards about his membership of the parliament's public audit committee and his role as party treasurer.

Mr Yousaf admitted that the timing of the arrest was "not ideal" in terms of his Holyrood speech but said he did not believe the party was operating in a criminal way.

He added: "We instructed a review into transparency and good governance and of course with the issue around financial oversight, and I want some external input into that.

"So there is change that is needed within how the party is operated and I have made that absolutely clear."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the SNP is in a "real mess", adding: "After 16 years in power, it has descended to this and those being let down are Scottish voters who are entitled to better than this".

Last year it emerged Mr Murrell gave a loan of more than £100,000 to the SNP to help it out with a "cash flow" issue after the last election.

The SNP had repaid about half of the money by October of that year.

Humza Yousaf had hoped to use today as a "reset".

The new first minister wants to talk about policies rather than the police, and is due to make a speech at Holyrood setting out his plans for government.

But there looks set to be an empty space on the back benches, as one of his MSPs - Colin Beattie - is questioned by detectives about his party's finances.

Mr Yousaf will inevitably be confronted by reporters with further questions about what is going on.

There is unlikely to be much he or indeed anyone else could actually say at this point, given there is a live investigation in progress.

But the very fact of it rumbling on in the background will inevitably cast a shadow over his big set-piece speech.

On Sunday, leaked video footage emerged that showed Ms Sturgeon playing down fears about the party's finances.

The footage, published by the Sunday Mail, is said to be from a virtual meeting of the party's ruling body in March 2021.

Ms Sturgeon told NEC members the party's finances had never been stronger and warned of the impact of going public with concerns.

The SNP's former Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, insisted that there was "nothing untoward" in the clip and claimed that the party's finances are in "robust health".

The party's auditors, Johnston Carmichael, quit in September - although Mr Yousaf has said he only found out about it after he won the leadership contest six months later.

The SNP has so far failed to find another auditor, and is facing a race against time to file its accounts by the Electoral Commission deadline in July.

An SNP spokesman said "We have no comment on a live police investigation."