SNP most transparent party in Scotland, Keith Brown says

The SNP is the most transparent party in Scotland, according to its deputy leader Keith Brown.

The former minister made the remark as he defended his party's record amid internal turmoil and a police investigation into finances.

He also said the SNP membership has increase by more than 700 since last month.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy said Mr Brown was "living in a parallel universe".

Last month Peter Murrell resigned as the SNP's chief executive after taking responsibility for misleading the media about party membership numbers.

Treasurer Colin Beattie also stepped down. Both had been arrested and released without charge as part of the Police Scotland probe.

Mr Brown pointed to how the SNP's new leader Humza Yousaf had ordered a governance and transparency review.

"So action has been taken to make sure that we meet these internal challenges," he told BBC Scotland's Sunday Show.

"And in the meantime, we are one of the most transparent parties in the UK. You will have a very good idea of what the SNP membership is."

He continued: "We are a more transparent, more successful party than any other party in Scotland. We have to increase that transparency.

"It is my ambition and I know that it is Humza's to make sure we are the most transparent party in Scotland and that we set the standard for transparency and shame the other parties."

The SNP's deputy leader also pointed to Scottish Labour and Conservative politicians declining to say how many members the parties have.

Mr Brown said SNP membership had risen over the past two to three months, based on reports from SNP branches on social media.

"We've seen upticks in membership across the country," he told the Sunday Show. "We've seen upticks in terms of donations."

The former minister added: "And I would also just balance that by saying yes, we have lost members as well, but the balance is showing an increase in membership."

In March the SNP confirmed their membership figure had fallen to 72,000 - a loss of 32,000 in two years.

Later on Sunday Mr Brown told BBC Scotland that the figure has increase by 738 since 24 March, three days before Mr Yousaf was named as leader.

On Saturday, the SNP appointed MP Stuart McDonald as treasurer until the party's next annual conference.

He said he would work with Mr Yousaf "to improve the SNP's governance and transparency".

A key task for the new treasurer will be appointing auditors after accountants Johnston Carmichael, which worked with the SNP for more than a decade, resigned around September.

The party's accounts are due to be filed to the Electoral Commission in July.

In an earlier interview with Sky News, Mr Brown said he had not been notified until recently that the auditors had quit.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy claimed the SNP "is addicted to secrecy".

He told the Sunday Show: "It was bizarre to hear Keith Brown saying the SNP is one of the most transparent political parties in the UK.

"I mean he's living in a parallel universe there."

Asked to reveal how many members Scottish Labour has, MSP Daniel Johnson told the Sunday Show "the key questions here are for the SNP".

He added: "For Keith Brown to say they are the most transparent in the UK when he didn't even know that the auditors had quit for months I think really demonstrates the real issue.

"The reality is the Labour Party is not the one looking at being unable to file its accounts and therefore not complying with electoral law."

In fairness to Keith Brown, it is true that rival parties in Scotland have been reticent about their membership figures. That may well be in part because they are still dwarfed by the SNP's rank and file, regardless of a recent exodus.

But it is just a bit of a stretch to suggest that everything is rosy in the garden.

A new treasurer has been parachuted in with the clock running down on efforts to find a new auditor in time to file accounts with the Electoral Commission.

Humza Yousaf's attempts at a fresh start have been repeatedly buffeted by events outwith his control, as well as a series of "did you know about this?" questions to which the answer is invariably "no".

The narrative around the leadership style of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon is fast swinging from "strong and stable" to "closed off and remote".

Mr Brown must recognise some frustration on that front himself - he led a transparency review in 2021 which seems to have been roundly ignored by party bigwigs.

And all of that is regardless of the ongoing police investigation, which is the subject of endless speculation at Holyrood - essentially all of it uninformed.

Police Scotland launched its Operation Branchform investigation into the SNP's finances in July 2021 after receiving complaints about how more than £600,000 of donations earmarked for independence campaigning were spent.

A person who reported concerns to Police Scotland in March 2021 has told the Herald on Sunday there should be an inquiry into how the force "dragged its feet" in responding to his complaint.

The man, who was not been named, said he had to lodge another complaint in January this year due to a lack of progress.

Meanwhile the Sunday Mail and Scottish Mail on Sunday have reported officers are searching for sim cards linked to pay-as-you-go phones as part of the case. Police are also investigating the purchase of jewellery, a fridge-freezer, "luxury" pens and designer pots and pans, according to the reports.

BBC News has approached Police Scotland about all three reports.

The force said it was unable to comment further on the investigation.

On reports about pay-as-you-go phones, the SNP said: "We have no comment on a live police investigation."

Mr Murrell, who is married to former SNP leader and first minister Nicola Sturgeon, was arrested about two weeks ago at the couple's home in Glasgow.

He was released without charge pending further inquiries.

Officers spent two days searching the house, and also searched the SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh.

Mr Beattie was taken into custody and released without charge on Tuesday.

Mr Yousaf described his decision to resign as "the right thing to do".