SNP leadership: Ash Regan questions role of Sturgeon's husband

An SNP leadership candidate has questioned the role of Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell in the leadership contest.

Ash Regan said Mr Murrell's position as SNP chief executive was a "clear conflict of interest".

It is understood the SNP's national secretary is responsible for running the election rather than Mr Murrell.

Ms Regan was speaking as she formally launched her campaign to become party leader and the next first minister.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and Health Secretary Humza Yousaf are also standing in the race to succeed Ms Sturgeon.

The winner will be decided by a vote of SNP members, with the result to be announced on 27 March.

Joanna Cherry MP, Ms Regan's most high-profile backer, had already called on Mr Murrell to quit the post he has held since 1999.

Ms Regan said: "I think this situation that we've got ourselves into, where you've got a party leader who's married to the chief executive of the party, I don't think we would accept that in a corporate setting. I don't think it's appropriate.

"I think the fact that Peter Murrell is running this contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon is a clear conflict of interest."

Asked if he should stand down, Ms Regan said: "I think it's a conflict of interest, that's my position on that."

Mr Murrell married Ms Sturgeon - who was then deputy first minster - in 2010 just months after the couple announced their engagement.

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.

Ms Sturgeon has faced questions about the loan but has said the funds were entirely his own and she could not recall when she first learned of it.

Asked by BBC Scotland if she thought the leadership contest was fair, Ms Regan replied: "I think there is a clear conflict of interest in having the former leader running the contest."

The ex-minister also said she had raised concerns with the party over what she described as a "lack of transparency in the process".

Ms Regan launched her leadership campaign shortly before Friday's noon deadline for candidates.

She vowed to set up an Independence Commission on her first day in the job and said she would not challenge the UK government's decision to block the Gender Recognition Act.

Ms Regan, who resigned as community safety minister over Scottish government plans to make it easier for someone to change their legally-recognised sex, said the legislation was "flawed and does not command public support".

She also declared herself to be the candidate of competent government, claiming the SNP had "lost our way" in recent years.

Earlier this week she asked members to stop "mudslinging" after the backlash received by Ms Forbes following her comments on social issues including gay marriage and having children outside of marriage.

Ms Regan said: "Our campaign is built on hope, optimism and a belief in the power of our people.

"The truth is that our movement has been divided for far too long by petty differences and personal agendas.

"But we can't afford to let these differences tear us apart any longer and we must come together as one united force for Scotland because the challenges facing our country are too great for us to face them if we are divided."

The SNP, she said, has always been a "broad church", and the Edinburgh Eastern MSP pledged to "heal the divisions that have emerged in the past few years".

She added: "Everyone is going to make up and move on."

Ms Regan had previously said she would seek to launch negotiations on leaving the UK with Westminster after a majority vote for independence-supporting parties at any future UK or Holyrood election.

Speaking at her launch event, she told BBC Scotland she believed Westminster would be willing to negotiate on a referendum, despite both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer saying they would refuse to do so.

She said: "The UK government will listen to a clear instruction from the electorate of Scotland. I believe they will, yes."

Ms Regan also said the public would expect the first minister to make the NHS, which is struggling to recover from the pandemic, their number one priority and pledged: "I will do that."

The Scottish government has set a legally-binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the date set for the UK as a whole.

But Ms Regan said those targets were "not appropriate".

She added: "I am committed to a just transition, I want to be really clear about that, but I think we need to recognise how many people in Scotland, how many communities, are supported by the people who work in the oil and gas industry.

"Many of them are really, really concerned about the timetable we have put up at the moment and are worried about losing their jobs and I don't want them to be in that position."

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Herald, published ahead of the launch, Ms Regan intimated she wants to let groups who worked for the wider Yes movement in the run-up to 2014 take the lead on independence, while the Scottish government focuses on running the country.

She said: "The party has effectively dismantled the Yes campaign, but I want to reconstitute it once more.

"It's also important that we get on with the business of governing on the day-to-day issues affecting all of the people of Scotland.

"And, as much as possible, allow some of the groups who did amazing work for the Yes cause in 2013 and 2014 to do what they did so well back then. I want to get the band back together, if you like."