‘I want to get on with life and my job’
Sturgeon speaks to reporters after husband released by police
Nicola Sturgeon plans to “get on with life and my job” after her husband was released without charge in connection with an investigation into the SNP’s finances.
Speaking outside her home near Glasgow, the former first minister said in a brief statement that the last few days were “obviously difficult” after the arrest of Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive.
She said she understood “the scrutiny that comes on me as a public figure”, adding that she intended to “get on with life and my job as you would expect”.
The statement was her first since police arrested Mr Murrell and searched their home on Wednesday. They also searched the SNP’s Edinburgh headquarters.
She said there would be “full cooperation” with the police inquiry, but added that she could not comment on it “as much as there are things I may want to say”.
“The last few days have been obviously difficult, quite dramatic at times, but I understand that is part of a process,” she told reporters. Ms
Sturgeon stood down from the top job in February and has since been replaced by Humza Yousaf.
Her resignation and the police investigation have thrown the SNP into turmoil, with the SNP’s president describing it as “the biggest and most challenging crisis we’ve ever faced”. The investigation into the party’s finances relates to a £600,000 pot earmarked for independence campaigning.
On Friday, Johnston Carmichael, the SNP’s auditors, quit as police investigated the whereabouts of the money. Sources warned that Ms Sturgeon’s silence over the investigation was becoming a “festering wound” and Mr Yousaf admitted the SNP’s governance was “not as it should be”.