Meeting of the Parliament 10 June 2026 [Last updated 18:45]
I think that there are members of all parties who would take an honourable position on such a committee, but that is just my personal view.
I turn to the matter of why there are wider questions to be asked. Every newspaper, broadcaster and social media outlet is talking about the issue. It will not go away, and the fact that it will not go away is being further fuelled by the Government’s refusal to consider any scrutiny of how the situation was allowed to arise in the first place.
There can be no denying the public interest in the course of events that was reported in 2021, which involved the governing party. Therefore, it is in the public interest, and the SNP’s interests, to do more to show that those questions can be answered.
Although it is the case that an individual has now been convicted of a serious criminal offence and found responsible for the crime, the issue goes beyond that. That is where the Green amendment misses the point. I do not understand why the SNP’s appeal for donations for an independence referendum was not included in the COPFS investigation. Furthermore, it does not sit comfortably with me that it has been announced in the press today that Murrell said that he was interested in talking about a plea of guilt in March. I know the court system quite well, and I am not comfortable with the fact that it took until the second or third week in May for that plea to be discussed and negotiated and for an outcome to be reached. I have questions about that.
Jamie Hepburn is right to say that we need to be careful about questioning the independence of the Crown and the police. I totally accept that point. However, it should not be the case that we, as politicians, are never prepared to challenge when we do not feel comfortable about things that we see.
I ask members to forget that it is me or the Labour Party telling them this. I am telling them that people on the streets of Scotland and—behind closed doors—police officers are asking the same questions. It may be the case that nothing corrupt or wrong went on, but until there is an inquiry that allows such wider questions to be asked, I am afraid that, for the SNP, the issue will simply not go away. So, if you will not support our motion on the setting up of a parliamentary inquiry, give something to the general public—never mind the Labour Party—so that they can be satisfied that the questions to which I have referred can be legitimately asked.