Nicola Sturgeon pulls out of Westminster committee appearance after Peter Murrell charged

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Nicola Sturgeon has pulled out of a planned Westminster committee appearance just days after her husband was charged by police.The former first minister was due to answer questions from MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee next week but will now appear at a future date instead.

It comes after her husband Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, was last week charged for allegedly embezzling party funds.The arrest was a significant development in the long-running Operation Branchform investigation.A spokeswoman for Sturgeon said she remained happy to appear before the committee in future.The former SNP leader told journalists last week that recent events had been "incredibly difficult" for her.A statement from the committee said: "Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance in front of the Scottish Affairs Committee, originally planned for Monday 29 April, has been postponed due to a change in witness availability."Ms Sturgeon has committed to give evidence to the Committee as part of the inquiry entitled Intergovernmental relations: 25 years since the Scotland Act 1998."A new date for the session will be announced in due course."The news was announced by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross during the committee on Monday afternoon.Committee chair and SNP MP Pete Wishart then intervened to reprimand Ross as he had been told the news while the committee was meeting in private and it was not yet public.Wishart confirmed that Sturgeon would appear at the committee in the future.Ross replied that the news was going to become public when Sturgeon did not appear at the committee the following week.A spokesperson for Sturgeon said: "Nicola is happy to appear before the committee." To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click h