THE SNP received just £4,000 in donations in the first three months of 2023, new figures from the Electoral Commission have revealed. 

Meanwhile, both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats received donations totalling more than £200,000. 

The SNP's money all came from one donor, James Murdoch from Strathearn, and was received on February 8, just a week before Nicola Sturgeon resigned.  

The latest update to the political finance register also shows that Humza Yousaf's party received £287,339 in public funding.

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The SNP has been rocked by Police Scotland's investigation into the party's finances and funds. 

Detectives are probing whether £660,000 of donations set aside for a second referendum was spent on other things. 

Former chief executive Peter Murrell and former treasurer Colin Beattie were both arrested before being released pending further investigation. 

The party's HQ and Ms Sturgeon's house were both raided by police.

Speaking to media after First Minister's Questions, Mr Yousaf said he was not worried about the lack of donations ahead of the general election, widely expected next year.

"We’ve got 75,000 members or thereabouts... the largest mass membership organisation of any political party in Scotland. On top of that what I’d say is we rely on our huge membership base as opposed to big massive donors.

"Look, I’m very confident of not just fighting that General Election but doing very well in that General Election."

The SNP's donations for the first quarter compares poorly to the amount registered during the same time period last year, when the party received £91,996.

Though that again was from just one donor. William Ritchie bequeathed the money in his will. 

The bulk of the Scottish Labour donations, £200,000, came from Peak Scientific. 

The global gas generator company headquartered in Inchinnan also gave £200,000 to the Lib Dems.

Labour's local party in Midlothian North and Musselburgh, where former Gordon Brown adviser Kirsty McNeil is the candidate, also received a slew of donations, with £5,000 coming from George Bevis, £5,000 from Tom Hay, £3,000 from David Easton and £2,500 from Paul Callaghan.

Meanwhile, East Lothian's Labour party, where former minister Douglas Alexander is the candidate, took £5,000 from David Giampaolo and £2,500 from Gordon Dalyell.

Mr Daylell also donated £2,500 to Ian Murray's Edinburgh Southern constituency Labour party.

The Scottish Lib Dems also received £5,250 from the Scottish Liberal Club and £10,000 from Antony P Gifford.

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Meanwhile, across the UK, the Conservative Party raised more than £12 million.

The total for the Tories was boosted by a £5 million donation from Mohamed Mansour, the party’s senior treasurer and a former minister in the government of Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The party also received £2 million from Indian-born textiles tycoon Amit Lohia and another £2 million from party treasurer and businessman Graham Edwards.

Their Scottish donors included Dow Investments Ltd, run by businessman Robert Kilgour. He gave the party £4,166 in each of the three months. 

Mr Kilgour also runs the pro-union Scottish Business group.

They also received £8,400 from Scottish Power. 

Labour’s biggest donation across the UK was a £500,000 gift from Gary Lubner, former chief executive of the company that owns Autoglass.

Labour also received £2.3 million from its trade union backers, including £1.1 million from Unite and £359,168 from Unison.

In total, UK political parties received £20.9 million in donations and public funds in the first three months of 2023, compared to £12.8 million in the first three months of 2022.

Louise Edwards, of the Electoral Commission, said publishing the figures was vital to ensure transparency.

She said: “We publish details of these donations so that voters understand how political parties are funded.

“We know transparency of party and campaigner finance is important for people, but our research tells us that only 24% of people believe party funding is transparent.

“It’s clear that publishing this information is not enough. We continue to recommend to the UK Government that it reforms the system, to help protect parties from those who seek to evade the law, and give voters more confidence.”