Swinney under fire as Murrell probe blocked

Snub may open way for Westminster inquiry

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON and CHRIS McCALL

JOHN Swinney has been slated after the SNP and Scottish Greens killed a Holyrood probe into the Peter Murrell scandal.

The First Minister was accused of shutting down scrutiny after voting down an inquiry into the former SNP chief executive's embezzlement.

A Westminster committee may now step in to launch its own investigation.

Murrell, the estranged husband of Nicola Sturgeon, is facing jail after admitting stealing more than £400,000 of SNP funds during a 12-year crime spree.

But the case has raised wider issues on SNP governance failures and the role of Police Scotland and the Crown Office in Operation Branchform.

Labour forced a vote on a Holyrood inquiry but the proposal was voted down by the pro-independence parties.