Nicola Sturgeon has said she will not be resigning from the SNP in the wake of her arrest by police investigating the party’s finances, saying this could “compromise” her right to assert her innocence.
Returning to the Scottish Parliament for the first time since she was questioned by detectives earlier this month, the former first minister said she was “absolutely certain that I have done nothing wrong”.
However, she refused to comment when asked if she could say the same for her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who was also arrested in April. Both were later released without charge pending further investigation.
“In a situation like this, I can only speak for myself, and I am only speaking for myself,” she told reporters.
Since she was arrested on 11 June, Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly asserted her innocence, saying she is convinced that she has done nothing wrong, and has defied calls for her to resign her SNP membership.
Asked if her husband was also innocent, she said: “Before I say what I’m about to say, I’m saying it as a statement of fact. It’s not a loaded statement that you should read anything into one way or another.
“But in a situation like this, I can only speak for myself, and I am only speaking for myself.
“There is also a difference between me and my husband – I am an elected politician, I am a public servant and therefore there is an expectation, I think a legitimate expectation, that I make statements and to the best of my ability answer questions.
“Obviously Peter is not in that position.”
Ms Sturgeon has also come under pressure to voluntarily resign her membership of the SNP, including from several MSPs in her own party, who believe the situation has become a major distraction.
“I search my soul on these questions on an ongoing basis. I have dedicated most of my life to the SNP, and I don’t say that to make it sound like a sacrifice, it’s not been a sacrifice.
“The interests of the SNP are as close to my heart as it’s possible for anything to be.
“There may be an argument if I thought that if I was to step aside that you would all then accept that this had nothing to do with the SNP.
“But also what that would do I think would be to compromise my ability and my right to assert the position that I hold absolutely, which is that I have done nothing wrong.”
The former first minister also said the past few weeks had “not been the best period in my life”, but added: “The thing that sustains me right now is the certainty that I have done nothing wrong.”
