NICOLA Sturgeon has refused to answer questions on whether she should be suspended from the SNP following her arrest last week or if she will quit as some of the party's politicians have suggested she should.
It is the first time she has appeared in public after she was questioned by police for seven hours last Sunday as part of a probe into SNP finances.
The former first minister spoke outside her home near Glasgow on on Sunday, where press had been told to gather for a statement at around 1pm.
In a brief appearance before the cameras, Sturgeon insisted that she was innocent of any wrongdoing.
READ MORE: Poll: SNP face defeat by Labour at next general election
She further said she would be in Holyrood in the coming days, when she would answer more questions.
“I can’t say very much just now, what I will say is reiterate the statement I issued last Sunday, I’m certain that I have done nothing wrong.
“I intend to be back in Parliament in the early part of the week, I’ll make myself available for questions then.
“For now I intend to go home and catch up with some family.”
Asked whether she had considered stepping back from the SNP, she said: “I’ve done nothing wrong and that is the only thing I’m going to assert today.”
READ MORE: Sarwar 'not complacent' as poll suggests Labour will defeat SNP
After wishing people a happy father’s day, the former SNP leader said: “You know I can’t say very much just now. What I will say is reiterate the statement I made last Sunday.
“I am certain that I have done nothing wrong. I intend to be back in parliament in the early part of the week. I’ll make myself available for questions then, obviously within the constraints that I am referring to right now.”
She added: “I know I’m a public figure, I accept what comes with that, but I’m also a human being that’s entitled to a bit of privacy and my neighbours are also entitled to a bit of that as well.”
Asked whether conditions have been placed on her arrest, she told media: “No and I’m not going to get into anything other than that.”
Nicola Sturgeon arriving outside her home today before speaking to journalists. Photo PA.
The questions over Ms Sturgeon remaining in the party have arisen in the wake of a number of SNP politicians being suspended over allegations concerning their conduct when she was party leader.
They include SNP MSP Michelle Thomson who was suspended from the party when she was an MP amid a police inquiry into mortgage fraud. The police later dropped their investigation and Ms Thomson was cleared.
Last week former first minister Alex Salmond said under Ms Sturgeon's leadership SNP politicians would be suspended at "the drop of a hat".
When asked today whether Nicola Sturgeon would have suspended Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister said: “Look I’ve done nothing wrong, it’s for others to comment as they see fit but that’s my position.”
Ms Sturgeon then went into her house.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf tells SNP MSPs to ‘back Nicola Sturgeon or quit party'
Since her arrest two SNP MSPs Ms Thomson and Ash Regan have called for the former FM to resign her party membership while the police investigation is ongoing amid concerns her continuing membership could damage the party. One SNP MP Angus MacNeil has said she should have her membership suspended.
First Minister Humza Yousaf has refused to suspend her membership and reportedly told a meeting of SNP MSPs last week that those calling for her resignation should themselves quit the SNP.
Meanwhile, a poll published this morning suggested the SNP was facing a defeat at the next general election by Scottish Labour with Anas Sarwar's party winning 26 seats north of the Border.
The survey put the SNP at winning 21 seats, down on the 48 the party won in 2019.
Ms Sturgeon's arrest following the arrest of her husband Peter Murrell, the SNP's former chief executive, and Colin Beattie, the party's then treasurer, in April.
Like Ms Sturgeon both men were released without charge pending further inquiries.
Sir John Curtice, the Strathclyde University professor and polling expert, told the Sunday Times that Sturgeon’s arrest last weekend amid a police investigation into SNP finances “has undermined the confidence of Yes supporters in her and her party in a way the arrest two months ago of her husband, Peter Murrell, did not”.
Curtice added: “The swing from the SNP to Labour since late March has occurred almost entirely among Yes supporters."
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