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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Andrew Quinn

SNP has been sending 'cold calls' to auditors as accounts deadline looms

The SNP has reportedly been sending "cold-call" emails to auditors in an attempt to find someone to sign off their books before it loses out on £1 million of public money.

The party is at risk of losing more than £1 million from House of Commons authorities if it does not appoint auditors by the end of next month.

The Times reported that acting chief executive Susan Ruddick had sent an email to a firm on Wednesday morning with the subject line "Audit enquiry".

The email said "We are urgently seeking a statuatory auditor to comply with our obligations to the Electoral Commission as well as an audit of our Westminster group at the House of Commons."

It continued: "Would you have the capacity to assist in either of the above?"

Ruddick is acting chief executive following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell. Murrell resigned when he was facing a vote of no confidence after the party misled journalists over its membership figures.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn admitted earlier this week that the Westminster group could be forced to cut staff if it does not find auditors before the May 31 deadline.

The party's previous auditors, Johnston Carmichael, resigned in September. The party and Westminster group have both been without auditors since.

An SNP Holyrood spokesperson said: “We take our statutory obligations seriously and until a contract is signed, we will continue our search.”

An SNP Westminster group spokesperson said: "The SNP Westminster parliamentary group is in the process of appointing auditors and we hope to have our accounts signed off, in the usual way, as they are every year. As is always the case, we are in regular contact with the House authorities, including over the annual audit process."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This email smacks of desperation and reveals a party in disarray.

“That the SNP has resorted to cold-calling auditing companies in a pathetic attempt to put out the bin-fire that is their financial chaos is gob-smacking.

"What this amounts to is essentially spamming companies in a desperate attempt to climb out of the hole the SNP have found themselves in.

“It’s all too clear that this is a party that is out of control, out of steam and out of time. It’s time for a clean break with Scottish Labour.”

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