Three Holyrood committees have rejected a request from Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC) to jointly investigate the Peter Murrell embezzlement scandal, increasing the likelihood that MPs will launch their own inquiry into the SNP and its former chief executive. SAC chair Patricia Ferguson wrote to Holyrood's finance, public audit and standards committees in July seeking "joint working" on the case, arguing it raised issues spanning both reserved and devolved matters, but all three conveners declined, and a Labour peer has separately floated a Lords inquiry.

Murrell, 61, was jailed for more than five years in June after admitting embezzling £400,000 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022 while serving as its chief executive, a period that overlapped with his marriage to Nicola Sturgeon during her time as First Minister. First Minister John Swinney has repeatedly declined to order an SNP-led inquiry despite warnings from party insiders about weak financial controls, while Sturgeon, now estranged from Murrell, denies any knowledge of the offending. The Holyrood committees cited remit issues in refusing to cooperate: the finance committee said the matter fell outside its scope, the public audit committee said the Auditor General for Scotland does not cover party funding, and the standards committee said it was unclear the case fell within its priorities.