The SNP’s latest accounts reveal the party has returned to profit but has written off the value of the infamous motorhome bought by disgraced former chief executive Peter Murrell who is still owed £60,000.
Newly-published accounts show a turnaround of almost £900,000 on the £383,707 deficit recorded in 2024. Reserves have been rebuilt from just £6,627 to £516,530 in a single year, and the party’s auditors have given a clean, unqualified opinion.
However, the documents published by the Electoral Commission show the vehicle, bought by Murrell for £124,550, has been removed from the party’s books.
Murrell – the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon – admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP and was jailed for more than five years. The party is taking steps to recover the funds. The accounts show that he still owed £60,000 from a loan he gave the party in 2021.
Notes to the accounts say: “Due to the absence of agreed repayment terms and the lack of recent communication regarding settlement, there is uncertainty as to when, or if, this loan will be repaid to the former chief executive, and whether it may ultimately be waived or written off.”
A proceeds of crime hearing is expected to take place next month, and the party is said to be seeking to recover the full amount embezzled.
The accounts show that more than £1.7 million of the SNP’s income last year came from membership fees, with the party saying it had 50,443 members at the end of June, down from the peak of more than 100,000 during Ms Sturgeon’s time as leader and a further drop from the 56,011 since 2024.
Peter Grant, treasurer, said: “Following on from our election victory in May we will use the party’s strong financial position to put forward the positive case for independence and Scotland’s right to decide.”
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