Unclear if loan made to SNP by Peter Murrell will ever be paid back, auditors say

It remains unclear whether part of a £100,000 loan to the SNP from former chief executive Peter Murrell will ever be paid back, according to auditors.

An audit of the party's latest accounts said there was “uncertainty as to when, or if, this loan will be repaid” and “whether it may ultimately be waived or written off”.

It also emerged that the camper van purchased under Murrell is now worth a fraction of its original value.

The Electoral Commission has published a slew of returns from parties operating across the UK.

These include new documents from the SNP, Scottish Labour, the Scottish Greens and the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

These show membership income was down across three of the four parties.

And they reveal further insights into the operations of the parties.

This includes the fact that the SNP has yet to repay any more of the funds provided by Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband Murrell, who has been charged with embezzling money from the organisation.

And it includes that, without a handout from the UK Labour Party, Scottish Labour would have ended the year in the red.

Scottish Labour took in more than £2.1m over 2024, with close to £777,500 listed as a “national party contribution”. It spent over £1.8m, and so without the sum from elsewhere in the UK, its £349,800 surplus would have been a £427,700 deficit.

Anas Sarwar’s party – which made a big push to build relationships with businesses – more than trebled its income from fundraising and business events, taking in £115,00 in 2024, compared with £33,000 the year before.

And it was the only one of the three parties to increase its membership income. This went up by £90 over the year to £72,700.

Unlike Labour, the SNP did end the year with a deficit, with its expenditure outstripping its income by around £455,300. That compares with and end-of-year surplus of close to £661,600 in 2023.

John Swinney’s party said the 2024 deficit is “not unusual during a parliamentary election year” and that “significant steps have been taken to improve financial performance”. This includes the downsizing of its headquarters staff. The redundancy costs were said to have “contributed significantly” to the deficit and, in a statement, treasurer Stuart McDonald – one of the SNP MP’s to lose their seat in the summer election – said related restructuring has stabilised the party’s finances and will put it “in a much better place to invest in winning an extraordinary fifth consecutive term in office” at the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections.

However, McDonald, who replaced Colin Beattie MSP as treasurer in 2023, said the cash available to fight the recent general election “were not in the same ballpark” as in earlier years.

And the papers also show a drop in membership. With 56,011 people signed up, the SNP remains Scotland’s largest political party but the number is down 8,500 since 2023 and is far lower than its 125,000 peak in 2019.

McDonald attributed the change to “a variety of economic, political and other reasons”.

Meanwhile, the motorhome purchased under Murrell and seized by police as part of the Operation Branchform probe into party finances is now said to be worth less than half of its purchase price.

The vehicle cost £100,800 and is now listed as £41,300. However, auditors based that sum on “the assumption that there has been no additional impairment beyond normal depreciation”, because the camper van has never been returned to the party.

On the £108,000 loan made to the party in 2021, almost £48,000 has been paid back. However, a balance of £60,000 remains and, without a formal loan agreement in place and no request for the cash from Murrell, “there is uncertainty as to when, or if, this loan will be repaid”, auditors said. It is suggested that the sum could “ultimately be waived or written off”.

Meanwhile, papers for the Scottish Greens show a deficit of £52,800, with membership income falling from £269,700 to £262,800 over the year.

The Scottish Lib Dems also recorded a drop in membership numbers, but said this had been “compensated by higher average annual subscriptions”, with “significant donations” received to aid campaigning.

The party spent £736,900 last year after taking in £600,400. As with Labour, the Lib Dems also benefitted from a transfer from “head office”, in this case of £171,400.

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s party ended the year with a deficit of £135,500. But without the transfer, this would have been far larger.