{"id":1019185,"date":"2026-06-11T06:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1019185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T06:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:33:24","slug":"shameful-snp-and-greens-combine-to-block-holyrood-peter-murrell-inquiry-while-boasting-about-winning-the-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1019185\/","title":{"rendered":"Shameful SNP and Greens combine to block Holyrood Peter Murrell Inquiry while boasting about winning the election"},"content":{"rendered":"

SNP back-benchers spent all their time bragging about how they won the Holyrood Election and attacking Anas Sarwar while dismissing concerns about transparency, and insisting Scots don’t care about the Peter Murrell scandal.<\/p>\n

18:00, 10 Jun 2026Updated 18:11, 10 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Murrell arrives handcuffed in court.(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

The SNP and Scottish Greens combined to block a Holyrood Inquiry into the Peter Murrell scandal during a shambolic debate where the Nationalists boasted repeatedly about winning the last election. And one even suggested that the SNP “had no right” to be returned to government.<\/a><\/p>\n

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar led calls for one to be launched into the “biggest scandal since devolution.”<\/a> He pointed out that “is this a parliament that believes its job is to hold the government, and no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient, the institutions in this country to account?<\/p>\n

“Or do members believe their job is simply to use the parliament to protect the very culture that enabled Peter Murrell <\/a>to commit his crimes? The answer to this monumental scandal is to not repeat the culture of secrecy and cover-up but to confront it. It is to shed light, ask questions and meaningfully learn lessons. So I say to the SNP, if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear.”<\/p>\n

SNP and Scottish Greens MSPs were accused of “spreading the mud around” instead of admitting that an inquiry is needed as various other scandals were mentioned, including Peter Mandelson<\/a> and Colin Smyth. Ross Greer even went as far back as 2005 to drag the Scottish Lib Dems into it by bringing up fraudster Michael Brown who gave \u00a32.4m to the party.<\/p>\n

Their main argument seemed to be that Scots don’t want to see time and money “wasted” on a probe<\/a>, and back-bencher Colm Merrick even said that Labour should “hang their heads in shame” for even suggesting one should be held. Fellow newbie Kate Campbell stated that other parties only want this so they can “throw rocks at the SNP because we won the election and Labour lost it.”<\/p>\n

She even said that the SNP had “no right” to be elected into power after 18 years of rule, and added that opposition parties “might think its clever to drag out lengthy debates on Peter Murrell because they think that somehow this will harm the SNP, but what they have failed to understand is this does not diminish the SNP.”<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Cole-Hamilton<\/p>\n

But the SNP’s arguments were ripped up by rivals who highlighted that this story is what everyone is talking about, and an inquiry is needed to “learn lessons.” Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “There is no political capital to be gained here, but we are a representative democracy and this is everywhere.<\/p>\n

“Questions about this are everywhere, in the supermarkets, in the taxis, in the parks and I cannot believe that SNP back-benchers when they goo back to their constituencies, are not receiving that in volume.”<\/p>\n

Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay said: “This debate is not about one high-profile criminal \u2013 it\u2019s about public trust in Scottish politics, which has been dominated by one party for decades. As a journalist, I investigated organised crime. Organisations that are ruthless towards their rivals and even more ruthless when their own people step out of line.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecrecy, dishonesty, intimidation, intolerance. Power in the hands of a small group; tow the line, or else. There are clear parallels with the culture of the SNP. More than 1,000 items bought with stolen money, including the \u00a3125,000 campervan which Nicola Sturgeon says she did not see.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as she and John Swinney didn\u2019t see anything remotely suspicious as Murrell stole at least \u00a3400,000 to bankroll his and his wife\u2019s life of luxury. In a plea deal, another \u00a360,000 worth of items were wiped from Murrell\u2019s charge sheet \u2013 a plea deal crucially timed for just after the election.<\/p>\n

\"Leader<\/p>\n

Russell Findlay<\/p>\n

\u201cDid Murrell discuss this with Nicola Sturgeon when they met at Easter? And did the police agree with the Crown Office decision to prosecute just one person? These are just some of the many questions for an inquiry. Here\u2019s another: did Peter Murrell steal taxpayers\u2019 money? We still don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Swinney\u2019s response to all of this is to hide behind the election result. He reckons that gives him a free pass. He preaches transparency, candour, and respect, yet practises secrecy, dishonesty, and disrespect. Public trust in politics is in freefall. Just weeks ago, one in two Scots didn\u2019t exercise their right to vote. We have a collective duty to do the right thing and back an inquiry. If MSPs refuse to, then Scotland\u2019s MPs must act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parliamentary Business Minister Jamie Hepburn was charged with defending the SNP’s position and all he could do is boast about winning the election and said: “We should be seeking to have a strong parliament using its powers to hold the Scottish Government to account in relation to its government activities, that is what serves the people of Scotland well, and I think this suggested inquiry would divert and waste those powers on the internal governance of rival parties.”<\/p>\n

Labour, Lib Dem, the Tories and Reform backed an Inquiry, but it was voted down by the SNP and Scottish Greens who passed through its own amendments for an independent review into all parties finances, but with no real power to gather evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SNP back-benchers spent all their time bragging about how they won the Holyrood Election and attacking Anas Sarwar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1019186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[31136,748,1102,4884,26655,281959,7853,273599,273344,110817,712,204236,11312,92807,18695,107941,10004,273600,16,15],"class_list":["post-1019185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-anas-sarwar","tag-britain","tag-edinburgh","tag-great-britain","tag-holyrood","tag-jamie-hepburn","tag-nicola-sturgeon","tag-operation-branchform","tag-peter-murrell","tag-russell-findlay","tag-scotland","tag-scottish-conservatives","tag-scottish-government","tag-scottish-greens","tag-scottish-labour","tag-scottish-liberal-democrats","tag-snp","tag-snp-finance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1019186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1019185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1019185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}