Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has serious questions to answer about what she knew about the SNP embezzlement scandal, according to Cabinet Office minister Anna Turley.
She told GB News: “It’s gobsmacking, to be honest, I was really shocked to hear the scale of the money involved. This lavish spending is really quite shocking, and I think the SNP and Nicola have serious questions to answer.
“I don’t know all the details, we don’t know what she did or didn’t know, but I think serious questions have to be asked, because it’s just not acceptable. We’re here for public service, and when this kind of act is being undertaken, it’s absolutely shocking. It brings all of politics into disrepute.
“They need some transparency and accountability, and there are some serious questions to be answered here.”
She denied that there were comparisons with the Peter Mandelson scandal: “Well, I don’t think you can bind all these things up together. The Prime Minister has a job to do. He apologised for a mistake that he made for the best reasons for the country.
“He apologised that he got that wrong, and the reality is he’s got a huge amount as Prime Minister of this country in global turmoil to be focusing on. This is very different to an issue where this is an independent person who has clearly broken the law, who has creamed off money and was married to the First Minister.
“So, there are serious questions here to be asked about where this money went, and it just doesn’t smell right.”
On the case of the three teenage boys who received non-custodial sentences for raping two schoolgirls, she said: “I would be as shocked as everybody around the country. I was horrified to read of what took place in that horrendous crime, and my heart goes out to the victims, because what we see time and again is not only that they become the victims through the horrendous incidents, but also then they have to relive the crimes that happened to them in court.
“We can only encourage young women and girls to go through that process, if they feel at the end of it there will be justice, and those poor victims have been very clear that they don’t feel here that justice has been served, and that’s why it’s absolutely right that the law officers are looking again at this sentence, because I think everyone can see that this is a horrendous crime.
“I know the Attorney General has taken this very seriously, and will be looking at this, and it’s right that we redouble our efforts more broadly on violence against women and girls, we’re putting record amounts of money into educating young boys, particularly, but all children in schools to try and prevent this, but of course, there’s so much more we need to be doing.”