THE Tories have failed in a bid to quiz Scotland’s top law officers on decisions not to charge or prosecute Nicola Sturgeon.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay had submitted an urgent question to parliament looking to push Dorothy Bain – who as Lord Advocate is both head of prosecutions and the SNP Government’s top legal adviser – to speak on the investigation into Sturgeon after the former first minister’s estranged husband Peter Murrell pleaded guilty to embezzlement.
Findlay’s question on “whether the law officers will publish the reasons why it was decided not to charge or prosecute Nicola Sturgeon in relation to Police Scotland’s Operation Branchform investigation” was rejected by the Presiding Officer.
However, a secondary urgent question submitted by the Scottish Tories’ depute leader, Rachael Hamilton, was selected.
Hamilton will ask the Scottish Government “what assessment it has made of the impact on public confidence in political institutions in Scotland following the guilty plea entered by former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell in recent court proceedings”.
The question is due to be asked on Tuesday afternoon.
The Presiding Officer has selected an Urgent Question for this afternoon.@Rachael2Win will ask @ScotGov what assessment it has made of the impact on public confidence in political institutions in Scotland following the guilty plea by former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell. pic.twitter.com/RKXFhJdPpd
— Presiding Officer (@POScotParl) May 26, 2026
Reform UK's MSP team also announced that they had submitted an urgent question on Murrell, but it was not selected and the party did not say what their question had been.
Murrell admitted embezzling £400,310.65 from the political party at Edinburgh High Court on Monday morning. The former chief executive was charged with embezzling the funds from the SNP between August 2010 and October 2022.
Judge Lord Young afterwards told him: “You have pleaded guilty to a charge of embezzlement over a period of 12 years. You embezzled just over £400,000 from the Scottish National Party.
“As the chief executive officer of that organisation throughout that period your actions constitute a gross breach of trust.”
Sentencing is due to take place on June 23.
The former party boss was first arrested in April 2023 as part of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances, and was charged in April 2024.
Sturgeon and former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie were also arrested and questioned in the course of the investigation – dubbed Operation Branchform – but both were ultimately not charged.
“I am completely in the clear, that is the outcome I would always have expected," Sturgeon said at the time.
Beattie on Tuesday gave a statement to media at Holyrood, saying he was "utterly appalled and feel genuinely hurt by [Murrell's] actions".
