Party refuses to identify Indyref2 fighting fund in accounts despite cash row

THE SNP has refused to formally identify more than £660,000 raised for independence campaigning in its annual accounts after admitting some of it was spent on other things.

Treasurer Colin Beattie said “amounts equivalent to the sums raised” would be spent directly on campaigning amid disputed allegations of “missing funds”.

However Mr Beattie, whose predecessor quit in protest over a lack of transparency, said the cash would not be separated out in the imminent SNP accounts for 2020.

He said the SNP was under “no obligation to do so”, although it could if it wanted to do it.

In a bid to reassure members after a wave of resignations, he said that although the money was not separated out, the “commitment” to spend it on Indyref2 was “tangible”.

He also argued that “every penny” the SNP spent was in support of winning independence.

Nicola Sturgeon, whose husband is SNP chief executive Peter

Murrell, has said she wants to hold a second independence referendum by 2024, despite Boris Johnson refusing to grant Holyrood the requisite powers.

Alba leader Alex Salmond last week claimed the SNP Government had let the issue “go cold”.

Until 2012, when Mr Beattie was previously treasurer, the SNP identified multiple funds “restricted” for specific aims, including one for fighting an independence referendum.

However the party has since stopped the practice, and some members fear money raised since 2017 for Indyref2 has been absorbed into SNP general spending.

Police Scotland have been assessing an allegation that this amounts to fraud for more than two months to see if there are grounds to mount a formal investigation.

In a message to party members this week, Mr Beattie, an MSP for Midlothian, assured the party faithful all the “amounts” raised since 2017 would be used for Indyref2 campaigning.

However, while all the donations had been recorded as being given for this purpose, he conceded the money had not been ringfenced in an isolated account.

Rather, the SNP logged how much was given, and with its accounting process “will ensure that an amount equivalent to the sums raised from these apperals will go directly to our work to secure a referendum and win independence”.

He said: “To be clear, by the end of 2020 a total of £666,953 had been raised through the independence related appeals and coded as such through the internal process.

“Up until 31st December a total of £51,760 of expenditure has been applied against this income. The balance remains earmarked for independence related campaigning.

“While the Electoral Commission accounts preparation guidance states a party ‘may’ identify such reserves in its annual accounts, there is no obligation to do so.”

Mr Beattie also warned SNP members there “may be a need for a further fundraising exercise early in 2022 as we approach critical political watersheds”.