Taxpayers must pay for Murrell's legal costs over fraud charges

'It will stick in the throats of hard-pressed Scots that they're picking up the tab'

- By David Walker Scottish Politics Reporter

TAXPAYERS will fund the legal bill for former SNP Chief Executive Peter Murrell - despite the SNP still owing him £60,000.

He lent the party £107,620 in June 2021 to help with "cash flow issues." Two months later, £26,905 was paid back, then a further £20,715 was returned in October of that year.

But that leaves about £60,000 outstanding, according to the latest data from the Electoral Commission.

Murrell took up the position in 1999 but stepped down in 2023 after misleading journalists about how many members the SNP had lost, dismissing reports that it was 30,000.

His total earnings as SNP chief are not fully detailed until 2008 when he earned £62,993. His salary then rose to £109,492 in 2011 before falling to £77,024 the following year. His salary then disappears from the accounts for eight years before reappearing in 2021 and 2022 where he netted £79,750 a year.

When the Chief Executive's job was advertised in 2023, and Murray Foote was appointed, the salary was £95,000. But even with these earnings, Murrell has been granted legal aid ahead of his case calling after he was charged with embezzling money from the party he used to run.