Ash Regan, candidate for SNP leadership, lashes out at Nicola Sturgeon’s husband

Ash Regan, candidate for the SNP leadership, today reiterated her fears of a “conflict of interest” in the competition to succeed Nicola Sturgeon.

The former Scottish Government minister has criticized Ms Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell’s role as chief executive of the SNP.

“Actually, he’s running the competition to replace his wife,” Ms Regan said, as she reiterated her call for an “independent third-party company” to oversee the leadership battle.

Ms Regan is up against Scottish Health Minister Humza Yousaf and Scottish Finance Minister Kate Forbes in the race to succeed Ms Sturgeon as SNP leader and First Minister.

The competition became increasingly fierce as the rivals launched vicious attacks on each other in live TV debates over the past week.

Ash Regan targeted the role of Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, Peter Murrell, as SNP’s chief executive

Mr Murrell, the husband of outgoing SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, has been accused of “effectively running the contest to replace his wife”.

Ms Regan is widely seen as a competitive outsider, while Mr Yousaf – a close ally of Ms Sturgeon – has been branded a “continuity candidate”.

He is also accused of having the SNP’s “party machine” behind him after a number of senior figures pledged their support to his campaign.

Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday’s show, Ms Regan compared Mr Murrell’s role as SNP boss to a situation where Carrie Johnson may have counted the votes in last summer’s Tory leadership contest to replace Boris Johnson.

“Well effectively he’s running the competition to replace his wife and if you think about it another way you know that would be like Carrie counting the votes for Boris’ successor,” she said.

“I think a lot of people would think that would be pretty unusual. I think there is a conflict of interest here.

“My campaign team, we have stated that we think it should be an independent third party company that should run the competition and we have asked for a neutral observer from them too, just to make sure everything is in order.

“We have to be careful here too. We are the largest party in Scotland and the person who wins this competition will not only become leader of the SNP but also become the country’s First Minister. This is very significant.

“It is very important, and it is important both for the members of the SNP and for the whole country, that there is trust in this process, that everything is correct and transparent.”

Despite being the underdog in the SNP leadership competition, Ms Regan insisted she was “in this competition to win it”.

“Right now we know a lot of the members are still undecided, it’s a very short competition,” she added.

“But recently, a lot of people have reached out to me to say they think I’m the only hope for the SNP.”

Last month it was confirmed that all three of Ms Forbes, Ms Regan and Mr Yousaf have reached the threshold to formally enter the leadership race.

About 100,000 SNP members can start voting for their preferred candidate on March 13th.

Voting will then close at 12:00 noon on March 27 and the result is expected later today.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk