ON March 13 2017, Nicola Sturgeon announced that she would ask for permission to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence – and launched a fundraiser for the campaign.
The then-SNP leader launched the #ScotRef fundraising appeal for the campaign, telling independence supporters "the steps I have set out today, I am ensuring that Scotland's future will be decided not just by me, the Scottish Government or the SNP – it will be decided by the people of Scotland".
In the promotional video for the campaign on the #ScotRef website she does not encourage people to donate, but to pledge support “for Scotland’s referendum”.
The website landing page still exists but you can no longer pledge. It still lists Sturgeon's estranged husband Peter Murrell, who was chief executive at the time, as the promoter of the message. Murrell pled guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 in party funds last week.
The site was officially wrapped up in June of that year, with the fundraiser having raised nearly half its £1 million target. A second fundraising website – yes.scot – took the fighting fund total to nearly £667,000.
In 2023, it was understood that the SNP believed cash from the £600,000 was not "missing" and was not used improperly as it was spent on campaign materials, and the SNP exists to further the cause of independence.
Today, party leader John Swinney further confirmed the fund has been spent after former party treasurer Colin Beattie issued this statement in 2021 laying out what had happened with the fund, having told members the money had been spent "elsewhere".
Beattie said at the time time that the same amount of money raised would be spent on a future independence referendum campaign.
On Wednesday, Swinney said: "That money is part of the resources that are available within the Scottish National Party to support its independence objectives. And the SNP is a party of independence. And that's what we campaign for. We just campaigned for Scottish independence at the Scottish Parliament elections.
"I'm saying it's part of the ongoing activities of the Scottish National Party and we're the party that campaigns for independence and we've just fought an election campaign in which we had a very, very strong anchoring of our campaign for independence. So if that's not the use of the resources, then I'm not sure I understand what the resources are for."
We spoke to current and former SNP members who donated to the fund – as well as the general public who donated – about how they feel about the fund being spent.
SNP Paisley member Michael Gibbons told The National that "this is old news" and he is happy with how the money was spent.
"It was spent furthering the cause of independence and a referendum," Gibbons said. "I'm happy with that and it's outrageous that SNP members are being treated as political footballs by both the media and opposition parties."
Another shared they were “furious at the capital Murrell is giving the media” and said “the First Minister deserves better than this”.
A Linlithgow member echoed this, sharing that she felt “supportive”.
“The SNP campaigned on Independence in the 2026 election and are the only viable route to a referendum,” she said, adding: “If they lose a Holyrood election we lose even the chance of independence.
“You can't separate the referendum from the SNP’s necessary success in elections.”
Dundee City West member Arthur Campbell shared: “I donated to the party, not a single agenda or cause. The money’s been stolen not spent.”
He added: “I continue to donate to the SNP, and trust John Swinney and the SNP to use it wisely on whatever they see fit.”
An Anniesland member added: “They used it for campaigning in general election where independence was on the manifesto, so I don’t really care much.”
A member from Almond and Earn further shared: “SNP are the party of independence and without sufficient MPs and MSPs they would have little weight to achieve this so personally I have no issue with how the money was spent on election campaigns”.
Others told The National that they will continue to donate to the SNP as “how else are they supposed to campaign for independence with nothing like the huge donations made to other political parties from external sources?” and “I trust the party to use funds as needed”.
However, not all agree that the “fighting fund” was marketed as solely for SNP campaigning, and had taken the “ring-fenced” statement at face value.
Former Green member Ellen Daizell shared that had the Crowdfunder not been set up with the premise of the fund being “ring-fenced” for independence campaigning, she could not have donated for the Scottish Green Party rules do not allow for donations to competitor parties.
She added: “It was not just SNP members affected by the fraudulent misappropriation of Crowdfunder funds.
“We think it is important that this is something that is reflected in your article because other 'victims' have less of a party-bias against the concept of public accountability, including an inquiry.”
Her now husband Craig Daizell – the pair had not met when they both donated – added that they were both candidates for the Scottish Greens in the 2017 local elections when they donated.
“I donated a small amount to the independence Crowdfunder – £5 if I recall – on the understanding that it was for campaigning around independence in a cross- and non-party political manner," he shared.
“This was quite important at the time. The terms of my membership of the Greens and of my candidacy was that I was not permitted to donate to or campaign for another party competing in the same elections. It would have been unthinkable for me to have donated to political party's election campaigning while actively trying to become elected as a member of another party.
“Had I done so outwith the context of that Crowdfunder it would have almost certainly resulted in me being dropped as a candidate and rightly so.”
