Well, well, well. The SNP’s annual accounts for 2022 are out and it’s not looking good. The party recorded its largest ever deficit of more than £800,000 in the last year of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell’s reign. As if we didn’t need any more evidence that the Nats aren’t good with their money…
While the nationalists spent less than they did in 2021 – a still hefty sum of over £5 million – they didn’t manage to bring in quite enough income. Collecting just £4.25 million, the SNP deficit of £803,659 is up by almost £100,000 from 2021. Party officials received a mere £144,000 cash in hand in 2021 – a figure which slumped to £40,000 last year. Annual donations made to the Nats fell by almost half, from £695,000 to £368,000. Mr S is hardly surprised that SNP members are feeling less generous, however. They still haven’t figured out where their last big donation went…
Party funds have clearly taken a hit by the membership exodus, with a third of the SNP’s activists departing in their droves since 2021. Total numbers dropped from 103,000 to 73,936 by the end of June — a revelation that in March caused now-chief exec Murray Foote to resign in a huff (though he’s back again at a cost of £95,000 a year). Their declining membership means the SNP only received £2.3 million from member fees last year, down from £2.5 million in 2021.
As questions remain unanswered over the SNP’s mysterious motorhome purchase, the accounts suggest it wasn’t the party’s wisest use of money… They detail that the value of the party’s ‘motor vehicles’ depreciated from £100,000 to a lowly £64,500. Oh dear. And don’t forget that the party still owes Murrell £60,000 after the former chief exec loaned it £107,000 in 2021 to, er, ‘assist with cashflow’.
It all paints a rather embarrassing picture for a party that certainly won’t want to remind everyone of their ongoing financial woes…
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