First Minister Humza Yousaf will lead a national campaigning day to mark one month of his leadership of the SNP.

Mr Yousaf beat Kate Forbes and Ash Regan to the top job in March but has experienced a tumultuous start to his time in charge with the arrest of the party's former chief executive Peter Murrell and its then treasurer Colin Beattie in relation to a probe into SNP finances.

Both men were released without charge pending further investigation.

The home, near Glasgow, which Mr Murrell shares with his wife former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, was searched by police as was the SNP headquarters in Edinburgh.

READ MORE: 'Humza Yousaf must cut umbilical cord with Nicola Sturgeon'

The First Minister will look to reverse the party's fortunes as he leads a day of campaigning during a visit in Dundee today after telling activists he would be "first activist" during his bid for the leadership.

Alluding to the party's troubles, Mr Yousaf admitted ahead of the visit the last few weeks have been "challenging" for the party, adding: "Yet, our party membership is on the rise, support for independence remains strong and the SNP continues to lead by some distance in the polls.

"We don't take that support for granted, which is why the SNP is doing everything we can to protect Scots from the brunt of heartless Westminster policy, despite having one hand tied behind our back."

He added: "I became involved in politics to help build a fairer Scotland free from inequality and poverty - those principles will be one of the defining missions of my SNP government.

READ MORE: What will Humza Yousaf do about his predecessor?

"I am proud of the SNP's record in government and I am privileged to lead our party every single day.

"With an election on the horizon, it's time to take the fight to Westminster and offer voters in Scotland real change with independence."

In addition to the police investigation the party both nationally and in Westminster is struggling to recruit new auditors to file its accounts after its auditors resigned in September last year.

Unless the SNP Westminster group can provide an auditor’s certificate by May 31 to the House of Commons's Accounting Officer, they could lose out on £1.2m in Short money, the public funds given to opposition parties by the Commons for parliamentary business.

That could force the SNP to make some of its Westminster based staff redundant.

An general election is expected next year and while SNP remains the dominant party in Scotland polls suggest support is dipping for the party. 

At the end of last week the first major survey carried out since Mr Murrell's arrest showed Scottish voters viewed Mr Yousaf as incompetent, weak and out of touch.

Despite his efforts to “reset” the Scottish Government and outline a new agenda, the YouGov survey suggested the public think he is doing a bad job by a margin of 44% to 19%.

SNP voters were slightly more positive about Mr Yousaf, with 32% saying he is doing a good job and 28% saying he is faring badly.

Only 18% of the public spoken to by pollsters said he was a strong leader. More than double that amount, 45%, described him as weak, with 37% undecided.

The crisis also appears to be leading to the SNP losing support with the poll showing a fall in two points in voting intentions for a Westminster election, from February to 37%, though the party is still considerably ahead of Labour on 28%, the Conservatives on 17% and the Liberal Democrats' 8%.