Three Holyrood committees decline to work with UK Parliament on party finances

Three Holyrood committees have declined to work jointly with a UK Parliament committee on further scrutiny of party finances.

In July, the Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC) agreed that its chairwoman, Patricia Ferguson, should write to Scottish Parliament committees to “explore the potential” for “joint working” on the Peter Murrell embezzlement case.

Murrell – the ex-husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon – was jailed for more than five years in June after pleading guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP while serving as its chief executive, spending the cash on luxury items.

The SAC wrote to three Scottish Parliament committees ask if they would carry out joint parliamentary scrutiny on themes relating to Operation Branchform and embezzlement of SNP campaign funds.

Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell PA Media

The three Holyrood committees, the Finance Committee, the Public Audit Committee and the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, have now responded declining the invitation.

A letter from convener of the Finance Committee, Clare Haughey said the matter does not sit within the committee’s remit.

She said: “As the governing party in Scotland since 2007, the Scottish National Party has not received any public funds such as ‘short money’ provided to opposition parties, although we note this position differs to that in the UK Parliament where the party sits in opposition.

“This committee is therefore unable to work jointly with you on this issue.”

Convener of the Public Audit Committee Neil Bibby said the committee had raised the issue with the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS), however, it concluded the issue also did not sit within its remit.

He said: “The remit of the AGS – this necessarily informs our response, the work of the AGS being central to the Committee’s own remit, its focus being on how public money is spent and not on the funding of political parties.”

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee also said it was not clear that the issues raised by the Scottish Affairs Committee fall within the SPPA Committee’s remit or current priorities.

Convener Jenni Minto said: “The committee does consider devolved electoral law matters, which includes taking evidence from the Electoral Commission and others with responsibilities in these areas from time to time, and this is an issue that might arise during future evidence taking.”

The Scottish Affairs Committee chair Patricia Ferguson said: “The committee will consider the responses from the three Holyrood committees later this week.”