MOTORHOME IS '£110K SNP BATTLE BUS

Party source claims seized vehicle was bought for Holyrood election campaign in pandemic | Critics say van left parked at Murrell múm's house was 'a colossal waste of money'

- PAUL HUTCHEON

A MOTORHOME allegedly bought as an SNP "battle bus" is said to have sat outside former party boss Peter Murrell's mum's home for more than two years until it was seized by cops.

It is understood the £110,000 camper van was earmarked for the SNP Holyrood election campaign but was not deployed after Covid restrictions were lifted. A party insider admitted: "It was not a great idea."

The SNP is in freefall over a police investigation into how about £600,000 of IndyRef2 donations were spent.

Former SNP chief executive Murrell was arrested and released without charge last week after a raid on the marital home he shares with wife Nicola Sturgeon.

As part of their investigation, police also confiscated a Niesmann + Bischoff motorhome that was parked outside the Dunfermline house of Murrell's 92-year-old mum on the same day. A local claimed the vehicle had not been moved since it was delivered in January 2021.

An SNP source told the Record the motorhome had been bought during the pandemic for use in the Holyrood election campaign in the spring of 2021.

On January 4 of that year, Sturgeon said her government had decided to introduce another lockdown for January. Restrictions were strengthened in the middle of the same month.