NICOLA Sturgeon left both her party and the country in a “mess”, Rishi Sunak has said.
The Prime Minister said that if the SNP can’t “fix the mess that Nicola Sturgeon left their party in, how can they possibly fix the mess that she left Scotland in?”
He also mocked the SNP’s Westminster leader at PMQs by joking about the luxury motorhome seized by police officers investigating the party’s finances.
Detectives are looking at claims that £660,000 raised specifically to fight a second independence referendum may have been spent on other things.
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, who is married to Ms Sturgeon, was arrested and questioned before being released without charge two weeks ago.
Officers searched the Glasgow home the couple share and impounded a £110,000 campervan from the Dunfermline home of Mr Murrell’s widowed 92-year-old mother.
On Tuesday morning, the police also arrested SNP treasurer Colin Beattie, the MSP for Musselburgh, before releasing him without charge pending further investigation.
Mr Beattie failed to turn up to his first parliamentary duty after his arrest, skipping today's sitting of the economy and fair work committee, on which he is deputy convener.
READ MORE: Arrested SNP treasurer Colin Beattie dodges first Holyrood meeting
At PMQs, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn tried to make light of his party’s difficulties, by saying he had had a “peaceful and relaxing Easter break”.
He was met by a wall of Tory heckling and laughter.
He then asked Mr Sunak why Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross had suggested Scottish voters at the next general election should vote Labour in order to oust SNP MPs.
Mr Sunak said he would not get “distracted by the things that are going on elsewhere” but focus on delivering for the people of Scotland.
Alluding to the SNP motorhome, he said: “I know at the moment, him [Mr Flynn] and his party are focused on other matters. We're just going to motor on with the job.”
Mr Flynn said he would “take no lectures” from a party that hadn’t had a mandate to govern in Scotland since 1955 and had just had three prime ministers in a matter of months.
He said: “In the course of just a matter of months you crashed the economy, you sent mortgage rates soaring, you’ve taken Energy Support away from families most in need.
“Now a prime minister has been fined by the police not once but twice. They take donations from Russian-backed donors and of course they’ve stuffed the House of Lords with people like Baroness Mone.
“But let's be clear, what we're talking about is the fact that the leader of the Scottish Conservatives believes that the people of Scotland should return Labour Party members of parliament to this house, rather than Scottish National Party members to this House.
“So isn't the message to the people of Scotland quite clear - don’t give the Tories what they want?”
READ MORE: SNP - Shona Robison warns 'Party must get its house in order’
Referring to Humza Yousaf delaying and backing away from a series of Sturgeon-era policies yesterday, Mr Sunak said: “The Scottish conservatives deserve enormous praise for forcing the SNP into abandoning their completely unworkable, fundamentally flawed deposit return scheme.
“So it's good that the SNP U-turned and listened to the voices of the Scottish Conservatives and to business, and we look forward to working with them on delivering something that actually works to deliver for the people of Scotland.
“That’s just it, Mr Speaker. Because if they can't fix the mess that Nicola Sturgeon left that party and how can they possibly fix the mess that she left Scotland in?”
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