SNP in crisis as membership cut in half after Nicola Sturgeon arrest
Membership of the SNP has seen a sharp decline from 125,691 in 2019 to 64,525 this year.
The SNP's membership has plummeted by half following the police investigation into its finances and Nicola Sturgeon's arrest.
Documents filed with the Electoral Commission said the nationalist party had 64,525 members on June 1.
It is a drop of 12 percent in less than a year and around half of the SNP's 2019 peak of 125,691.
The Party's treasurer Stuart McDonald, the former MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, blamed “cost of living pressures” for the decline.
It comes after a chaotic period for the SNP following Ms Sturgeon's shock resignation last year and amid the police probe which centres on how more than £600,000 in donations to the party earmarked for an independence referendum has been used.
Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive and Ms Sturgeon’s husband, was charged with embezzlement in April.
In April last year, police swooped on the Glasgow home Ms Sturgeon shares with Mr Murrell as well as the SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh.
In dramatic scenes, officers erected a blue tent outside the property as they searched it for two days.
The probe has also seen Ms Sturgeon and ex-treasurer Colin Beattie arrested last year but they were released without charge pending further investigation. They deny any wrongdoing.
Ms Sturgeon stepped down as Scotland's First Minister in March last year and was succeeded by Humza Yousaf.
But he was forced to quit in May following the collapse of the SNP's power-sharing deal with the Greens.
Ms Sturgeon's former deputy, John Swinney, has taken over following Mr Yousaf's exit.
