Under-pressure SNP to reveal membership numbers

The SNP is expected to release its membership figures on Thursday after demands from the three candidates in its leadership contest.

The party previously said it would only give the numbers when the result of the vote was announced.

Ash Regan called for transparency in an open letter, also written on behalf of Kate Forbes, to SNP chief executive officer Peter Murrell.

Humza Yousaf's team said he had "sought assurances" figures would be released.

Mr Murrell, who is Nicola Sturgeon's husband, was urged to clarify "paid-up" party member numbers, and the number of digital and postal voting papers that had been released.

The BBC understands the party's ruling body - the national executive committee - is to have a special meeting on Thursday to consider the issue and senior SNP sources are confident publication will be brought forward.

The SNP's national executive committee was previously at the centre of a row over blocking media access to party hustings events for the leadership contest - a decision that was also reversed.

Ms Regan's letter stated: "We request that you provide essential information pertaining to the current membership status and voting procedures within the SNP, which is necessary for ensuring a fair and transparent leadership election."

It continued: "We have previously reached out to the National Secretary, Lorna Finn, with a request for this information. However, we have yet to receive a response, which has prompted us to address this matter through a formal open letter."

A few hours after the issuing the public letter, Ms Regan's adviser, Kirk Torrance, requested a "satisfactory response addressing our legitimate request for information" by 15:00 on Thursday.

Health Secretary Mr Yousaf was not mentioned in the letter, but SNP MSP Neil Gray said Mr Yousaf's campaign team had asked on Tuesday for the figures to be published and "sought assurances this would be done as soon as possible".

A spokesperson for Ms Forbes said: "It is standard practice for any election to be made aware of voting numbers in advance. This should be no different."

An SNP spokesperson previously told BBC Scotland that the candidates had been told "responsibility for the leadership election does not rest with any member of staff".

Throughout the campaign, the SNP has refused to confirm how many members were in the party.

Westminster leader Stephen Flynn told BBC Scotland on Tuesday he had "no idea", adding: "I think the last time I heard it was about 100,000."

The SNP said its membership had reached 125,000 by 2019, but the Electoral Commission put the figure at about 105,000 two years later.

The Mail on Sunday reported that Southampton-based polling firm Mi-Voice, which is overseeing the leadership vote, had been given the names of just 78,000 members by the SNP.

The ballot to find a replacement for Ms Sturgeon, which uses the single transferable vote system, opened on Monday with the winner to be announced on 27 March.