Humza Yousaf told to suspend Nicola Sturgeon following her arrest as SNP 'engulfed in chaos'

After a gruelling seven hour interview with detectives, Sturgeon was released without charge before taking to Twitter to proclaim her innocence and intentions to return to Parliament in a couple days.

While Sturgeon was detained, a chorus of MPs from the SNP, Scottish Conservatives and Labour demanded that the former First Minister be suspended from the party she led for nine years.

Craig Hoy, the Scottish Tory chairman, said: “The SNP continue to be engulfed in murkiness and chaos. Humza Yousaf must now show some leadership and suspend his predecessor from the SNP.”

Angus MacNeil, the SNP Western Isles MP, tweeted: “This soap-opera has gone far enough, Nicola Sturgeon suspended others from the SNP for an awful lot less!

“Time for political distance until the investigation ends either way.”

Alex Salmond, Sturgeon’s former tutor in the dark arts of a Scottish breakaway, resigned from the SNP in August 2018 as he sought to clear his name of sexual misconduct charges.

Salmond was later cleared of sexually assaulting nine women during his time in office.

Following her release from police custody at 5.24pm on 11 June, Sturgeon wasted no time in quelling rumours by posting a statement to Twitter at 5.29pm, labelling the arrest as “both a shock and deeply distressing,” as she remains “certain I have committed no offence.”

Sturgeon said: “Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.”

The former First Minister insisted that she “would never do anything to harm either the SNP or the country.”

While she announced that she would “take a day or two to process this latest development,” Sturgeon made clear her intentions to “be back in Parliament soon” to represent her Glasgow Southside constituents.

Sturgeon said she could not go into further detail into the ongoing police investigation but thanked her family, friends, and well-wishers for their providing “much-needed strength at this time.”

For the past two years, the force has been investigating the whereabouts of £660,000 donated to the SNP by independence activists for use in a second independence referendum campaign.

Eagle-eyed supporters complained when accounts lodged with Companies House in 2020 appeared to show that SNP only had £97,000 in the coffers, despite the referendum never having been held.

Sturgeon’s arrest comes two months after the arrest of her husband and former SNP chief executive, Peter Murrell, who was also released without charge pending further investigation.

Officers searched the couple’s home over two days, erecting a large tent in their front garden, and confiscated a motorhome from the home of Murrell’s elderly mother in Fife.

More recently, the SNP’s former treasurer, Colin Beattie, was arrested and released without charge, leading him to resign from his post on 19 April.

Speculation that Sturgeon would be the next to have her rights read to her was rife, for she was one of three signatories on the accounts submitted to the Electoral Commission alongside Murrell and Beattie.

While Murrell and Beattie were picked up by police from their homes, it is understood that Sturgeon was given the courtesy of a heads up on Saturday morning that she was required to attend a police station.

Ian Murray, Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary, said Ms Sturgeon’s arrest was “a deeply concerning development and the Police Scotland investigation must be allowed to proceed without interference”.

However, Police Scotland’s chief constable said the operation was being conducted “with integrity”.

Sir Iain Livingstone said he would “fiercely resist” any political interference with the investigation and that a “diligent, thorough and proportionate” criminal inquiry was continuing.

An SNP spokesman said: “These issues are subject to a live police investigation. The SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so, however it is not appropriate to publicly address any issues while that investigation is ongoing.”