Sturgeon: SNP branches are repaying coronavirus grant money

SNP branches which wrongly received £20,000 of coronavirus support money from a Government fund have either paid it back or are in the process of doing so, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister said 10 Conservative branch offices in England have also claimed for Covid support money.

The SNP’s Arbroath and Montrose offices successfully applied for £10,000 business support grants from Angus council last July.

Later, they were told that grants should not have been given to political parties and asked to repay the sum, the Courier newspaper reported.

The Scottish Conservatives have said the SNP should “come clean” on the number of its party offices which received support grants, alleging that other branches were encouraged to “play the system”.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Sturgeon said she was not aware of any other branches which had claimed coronavirus support money.

She said: “Do I think it is appropriate? No.

“As I understand it the rules weren’t broken but the councils have decided that it is not appropriate, and the money in one case has been paid back and in the other case is in the process of being paid back.

“I think that is the right thing to do. I don’t think that would be and is an appropriate use of public money.

“I’m not aware of other branches in the SNP. I could give you a list of 10 Conservative associations in England that have claimed this money, and I don’t know whether they have paid it back or not.

“I think the Tory position on this is somewhat hypocritical.”

Maurice Golden, the Conservative candidate for Angus South, said a police investigation might be needed if the SNP did not “come clean”.

He said: “This ruse has already resulted in the SNP paying back £20,000 for falsely claiming taxpayers’ money.

“Now that it has emerged that senior nationalists were actively encouraging local branches to play the system, it’s possible that other SNP outlets across the country will have benefited too.

“The SNP need to investigate how widespread this problem is and come clean about how much they claimed in total.

“If they won’t come clean, we may need a police investigation to examine if there has been an attempt at fraud here.

“This cash was designed to help honest businesses through a global pandemic which has cost thousands of lives in Scotland.

“Instead, the nationalists used it to line the pockets of their own selfish cause.”