Thanks, MoS, for exposing the truth – says top Nationalist MP

A SENIOR Nationalist MP has thanked The Mail on Sunday for holding his party to account over bogus membership figures.

Angus MacNeil said this newspaper had been instrumental in ‘getting the ball rolling’ and revealing the truth.

The MP for the Western Isles added that Peter Murrell’s departure represented a much-needed ‘catharsis’ for the party.

Mr MacNeil said: ‘The revelation last week set things in motion and then the membership number just had to come out owing to pressure.

‘I’m very pleased that the ball started to get rolling and we got to the truth of the membership in the end.

‘This figure has cost two resignations but I don’t see that they had any reason to keep it hidden in the first place.

‘It was always an unhealthy situation where the leader and the chief executive were a married couple – that has been a problem since the very beginning and we’re now looking for a new broom to sweep clean.

‘There’s a catharsis, it’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it’s moving on from what was a very stifling situation for a number of years for many of us, and it’s very good.

‘Thanks to you for getting the ball rolling publicly.’

Our story revealed that the SNP actually had around three-quarters of the 104,000 members it claimed. On Thursday, the party was forced to admit that membership, as of February 15 this year, was 72,186, having fallen from 103,884 in 2021.

Within 24 hours, the SNP’s head of media, Murray Foote, resigned, claiming he had not been told the full truth by his party bosses.