SNP motorhome 'seized by police' was to be Holyrood election campaign battle bus

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A motorhome allegedly bought as an SNP “battle bus” is said to have sat outside the home of party boss Peter Murrell’s mum for more than two years until it was seized by cops.It is understood the £110,000 campervan was earmarked for the SNP Holyrood election campaign in 2021 but was never deployed after Covid restrictions were lifted.A party insider admitted: “It was not a great idea.”The SNP is in freefall over a police investigation into how around £600,000 of IndyRef2 donations were spent.Ex-SNP chief executive Peter Murrell was arrested and released without charge last week after a raid on the marital home he shares with wife Nicola Sturgeon.As part of their investigation, police also confiscated a Niesmann + Bischoff motorhome that was parked outside the Dunfermline house of Murrell’s 92-year-old mum on the same day.

A local claimed the vehicle had not been moved since it was delivered in January 2021.An SNP source told the Record the motorhome had been bought during the pandemic for use in the Holyrood election campaign in the spring of 2021.On January 4 of that year, Sturgeon said her Government had decided to introduce another lockdown for January.Restrictions were strengthened in the middle of the same month.The SNP source said the Covid rules had been up in the air and the party saw the motorhome as an option if the restrictions were tight.They said: “The campervan was about trying to have an ability to campaign while complying with the rules.

It would have acted as a mobile campaign room.“It would mean not having a need for hotels and minimise mixing.”Lockdown rules were eased in April 2021 and the source said the campervan was never used.