ASH Regan has raised the prospect of a rerun of the SNP’s leadership contest in the wake of the chaos surrounding the party’s finances. 

During an interview, the former community safety minister said that while she herself was not calling for a do-over of the election, she said she did “have sympathy with that argument.” 

She also appeared to call for Nicola Sturgeon, Peter Murrell and Colin Beattie to be suspended.

READ MORE: SNP treasurer Colin Beattie arrested amid party finances probe

Her comments came as Mr Beattie continued to be questioned by detectives after being arrested on Tuesday morning as part of the probe into the SNP’s finances and funding. 

Humza Yousaf refused to say if the Treasurer should be suspended, telling journalists in Holyrood that “people are innocent until proven guilty.”

Ms Regan came third in last month’s leadership contest, winning 11 per cent of the first preference vote, far behind rivals Kate Forbes and Mr Yousaf. 

She had been critical of SNP HQ during the contest, initially questioning the integrity of the vote. 

Speaking to the BBC’s World At One, Ms Regan said party members and MSPs were “shocked” about the arrest of Mr Beattie. 

“I think some action needs to be taken by Humza Yousaf,” she added. “I think it's probably quite legitimate today that if there's any instances of significant wrongdoing, for instance, that people should be suspended from the party. 

“However, I will caveat that by saying there's a live police investigation ongoing, I don't know the specifics are involved.”

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf: I don't believe the SNP is operating criminally

She added: “I think if it is found that people have been involved in something of this nature, but certainly until that can be cleared up, whether that's one way or the other, that they should be suspended from the party.”

Asked if she was relieved not to have won the leadership contest, Ms Regan said: “Well, I said some weeks ago that I thought that considering some of the rumours that were going around about what had been going on that if I became the leader, I would go in, I would open the books. 

“If wrongdoing had taken place then I would be ending careers. 

“So I think decisive action does need to be taken. I stand by the current leader Humza Yousaf. 

“If he wants me to get involved and to assist in any way then I'm happy to do that.”

Asked about the possibility of rerunning the contest, Ms Regan said:” Some people are calling for that to be done. And that's not something that I'm saying myself, no.”

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Asked if she had sympathy with the argument that it should be rerun, Ms Regan said: “I do have sympathy with that argument. 

“However, I made my views on this, at the time very clear. I said that at the time when some senior members in the SNP had resigned. 

“And you know, specifically thinking of people like Peter Murrell who resigned over their membership figures, that that was a material change in circumstances. 

“And my suggestion at that time was that we had an ability to edit votes, so that members who felt they want to change their votes could do so. 

“And perhaps if we had that, you know, perhaps if we might have allowed that, we might be in a different situation.”