SNP meets deadline to file Westminster accounts

The SNP’s Westminster group has filed its accounts with parliamentary authorities, despite spending six months without an auditor.

As a result of the filing, the group will be able to receive so-called Short money – expected to be as much as £1.2 million – to support its work.

Former accountants Johnston Carmichael resigned in October, leaving the party without auditors during a period which included some of the most troubled months in its history.

AMS Accountants was appointed earlier this month and was tasked with meeting the deadline of Wednesday at midnight.

Peter Grant, the treasurer of the party’s Westminster group, said: “I’m pleased to confirm that the annual return for the SNP Westminster group’s ‘Short money’ for 2022/23 has received a clean audit certificate and has been submitted, on time, to the parliamentary authorities.

“We will continue to hold the Tories and pro-Brexit Labour to account for the damage their policies are inflicting on Scotland.”

The lack of auditors has been one of a number of issues the SNP has faced in recent months, which has also included an ongoing police probe into its finances which saw the arrest of former chief executive – and Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – Peter Murrell and then treasurer Colin Beattie.

Both men were released without charge, pending further investigation.

The SNP has also had to deal with shifts at the top, with the departure of former first minister Ms Sturgeon sparking a sometimes bruising leadership race eventually won by Humza Yousaf – a close Sturgeon ally.