Meeting of the Parliament 10 June 2026 [Last updated 18:45]
I have sympathy for the argument that Patrick Harvie has made, and I have sympathy with the Green amendment. There should be greater transparency on party financing and donations, including on the £5 million gift that was given to Nigel Farage. However, the problem with the Green amendment is that it makes two very deliberate mistakes. First, it acts as cover for an SNP in trouble—the Greens believe that they are there to protect the SNP. Secondly, it raises a constitutional issue, because it talks about moving powers from Parliament to Parliament. However, I think that there are legitimate issues that Ross Greer and Patrick Harvie would want to investigate.
The measure of a functioning democracy is that even the governing party can be held to account. That is what is at the heart of this matter. The inquiry would be about strengthening our democracy, restoring public trust in our politics, holding those in power and our institutions to account and learning lessons.
I call on all those who care about standards in public life, who care about learning lessons from the biggest scandal in Scottish politics and who care about repairing the trust that is being so terribly damaged by this whole affair to back the motion. How SNP members vote on the motion will show whether the culture that enabled Peter Murrell to commit his crimes has changed or whether it persists to this day. If SNP members have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear, so they should back the motion in my name.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees to conduct an inquiry into the implications and lessons to be learned following the conclusion of Operation Branchform and the embezzlement conviction of Peter Murrell.