What the SNP arrest means for UK politics and Scottish independence

The SNP was already in a ‘tremendous mess’, as Sean O’Grady explains

There’s been no word from Sturgeon or Murrell since the arrest (PA)

Peter Murrell, the husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into Scottish National Party finances. He recently resigned as chief executive of the party and has been questioned after being taken into police custody. Police Scotland say they are carrying out searches at “a number of addresses”.

Is this why Sturgeon resigned so abruptly in February?

If it is, she’s certainly not saying so, and there’s been no word from her or Murrell since the arrest. In her resignation statement, she said she was standing down because her perceived divisiveness was becoming an impediment to independence and she thought she’d done her time. But only three weeks earlier, she had chirpily insisted she had “plenty left in the tank” – a nod to Jacinda Ardern’s departing comment to Kiwis that she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do her role justice. SNP finances have been the subject of attention for some time; observers will wonder if, at some point between her confident declaration and her decision to quit, Sturgeon might have realised what was to come.