The SNP has written off the cost of the Murrell motorhome in accounts filed with the Electoral Commission, removing the luxury vehicle from its books after former chief executive Peter Murrell bought it for £124,550 before his conviction for embezzling party money.
The paperwork for 2025 shows the Niesmann and Bischoff vehicle no longer carries a value on the party’s balance sheet. It was initially listed at £100,790 on 1 January 2024, then fell to £41,284 by 31 December that year before being written off altogether. The accounts also show Murrell still had a separate £60,000 loan on the books from money he gave the party in 2021, although the SNP said he had not formally asked for repayment.
Murrell pleaded guilty earlier this year to stealing more than £400,000 from the SNP. The motorhome, bought in late 2020, had first been described as a campaigning asset for the party. Instead, it was driven from Rosyth, Fife, to the home of Murrell’s mother in Dunfermline, where it remained until police seized it. Murrell’s estranged wife, former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, has repeatedly said she did not know the vehicle existed.
The latest figures also show the party’s membership has slipped to below 51,000, down by about 5,000 from the year before. Even so, the SNP reported about £1.7 million in membership income last year and a cash surplus of £509,903, a sharp turnaround from a deficit of nearly £400,000 the previous year after a redundancy drive in 2024.
