SNP appoints new auditor as deadline looms for filing accounts

The SNP has signed a contract with a new auditor more than six months after the previous company quit, the party has said.

The party has been without auditors for its accounts since October, with the Westminster group left with only weeks to file with the Electoral Commission or risk losing £1.2m in funding from UK parliament authorities to support its work.

Stephen Flynn, the party’s leader in Westminster, said on Wednesday: “I’m pleased to confirm the SNP Westminster group now has auditors in place – and I’m confident we’ll meet the deadline, as in previous years.

“Throughout this period, SNP MPs have remained focused on standing up for Scotland and supporting our staff. We will now redouble our efforts to hold the Tories and pro-Brexit Labour party to account for the damage their policies are inflicting on Scotland.”

The SNP hopes to be able to file its accounts in time to meet the deadline, and to file its accounts with the Electoral Commission.

In the past month, the SNP’s former chief executive Peter Murrell – who is Nicola Sturgeon’s husband – and its then treasurer Colin Beattie have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into the party’s finances.

Murrell and Beattie were released without charge pending further inquiries.

The Scottish Conservatives will on Wednesday push for a statement on the turmoil engulfing the SNP, claiming it is “in the public interest”.