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Peter Murrell scandal risks making Scottish Parliament 'laughing stock' if inquiry not held
Дата публикации: 02-07-2026 03:30:00
EXCLUSIVE: A Scottish political veteran said he "really resented" the damage being done to Holyrood's reputation by the fall-out from the Murrell affair.
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EXCLUSIVE: A Scottish political veteran said he "really resented" the damage being done to Holyrood's reputation by the fall-out from the Murrell affair.
04:30, 02 Jul 2026
The SNP's failure to support an inquiry into the Peter Murrell scandal risks making Holyrood a "laughing stock", a former MSP has blasted.
Jamie Stone, who spent 12 years at the Scottish Parliament, told the Record he "really resented" the damage being done to its reputation by the fall-out from the matter.
The MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is now backing calls for an inquiry to be launched by the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster - a process he insisted would be "scrupulously fair".
And he warned a failure to get to the bottom of the scandal would leave a "cloud" hanging over devolution and its reputation elsewhere.
Stone said: "If the boot was on the other foot, there would be howls of outrage from the SNP.
'"I really do resent my former Parliament becoming a laughing stock. I believe in devolution and I want devolution done as well as possible."
Murrell was last week jailed for five years and three months after admitting embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP over a 12-year period.
John Swinney has repeatedly said his party was a "victim" of Murrell's offending and it would be wrong for opposition parties to launch a probe into the internal affairs of another.
SNP and Green MSPs teamed up last month to vote down a Labour call for a Scottish Parliament inquiry into the scandal, which among other issues would have examined whether public money was spent by Murrell.
Stone said the issue would continue to dent the Parliament's reputation if it was not examined.
He continued: "I represent a constituency far away from the central belt in the north of Scotland. But just about each and every one of my constituents has said to me, 'what on earth is going on here?' There is a lot of shaking of heads.
"What I do know is there should be an inquiry because, right now, the situation is damaging the notion of democracy in Scotland. And as long as there isn't an inquiry, we remain with this cloud hanging over, and people asking 'is this how you do things in Scotland?'
"Anything that reduces the faith of ordinary folk in how we do things is damaging to democracy. People want to get to the bottom of this.
"Having the courage to take the lid off, shine a light in and ask the questions that need to be asked would be no bad thing, and in fact, is ultra important."
Stone is not a member of the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster but has backed it to launch an inquiry examining the matter.
"Having been an MSP for 12 years, having signed the Claim of Right all those years ago, I am greatly saddened that any Scottish Government didn't have the courage to actually look at themselves and do it openly.
"At the end of the day, the Scottish Parliament is the child of Westminster legislation, and I do believe the Scottish Affairs Committee does have the right and responsibility to look at this issue - so let's encourage them to look at this one.
"I don't think the committee, which would have SNP membership, would be anything else other than scrupulously fair. That's the way we do democracy in this country.
"John Swinney is frantically trying to divert attention from the issue at hand. This was money given by the general public and it has been siphoned off and misused. Whether you believe in independence or not, that is an issue of major concern to the general public."
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