REVEALED - SECRET SNP SLUMP

Party bosses finally admit steep decline in members after demand from all three candidates

- CHRIS MCCALL

BATTLE FOR BUTE HOUSE

SNP bosses have been forced to reveal a massive slump in their membership after another day of crisis in the party's leadership contest.

The shock figures - kept secret until all three candidates demanded they be released - show the party have lost 31 per cent of their card-carrying supporters since the end of 2021.

The total number of members is down 31,698 from the last published count of 103,884 at the end of 2021, just over 14 months ago.

The drop was described by one SNP MSP last night as "alarming", while candidate Humza Yousaf admitted the decision not to publish the figure sooner was an "own goal".

The membership total was revealed yesterday just hours after Nicola Sturgeon claimed the party was not "in crisis".

It came after candidates Kate Forbes and Ash Regan urged the SNP to appoint an independent auditor to scrutinise the leadership result.

They were joined by fellow leadership hopeful Yousaf on Wednesday in calling for the membership figures to be revealed.

The SNP disclosed the number of members who will effectively decide who becomes the next first minister was 72,186 - or just 1.4 per cent of the population of Scotland.

MSP Michelle Thomson, Forbes's campaign manager, said: "While I'm pleased common sense has prevailed with the publishing of the membership figures, the alarming drop in members shows the party needs a change in direction.