00:00Hello, my name is Rachel. I'm the Scotsman's political correspondent. I'm here in Hollywood
00:05where we've had another very big day in Scottish politics, particularly because it has some
00:09major developments in operation branch form. That's the police investigation into SNP finances.
00:15Police Scotland confirmed earlier today that both Nicola Sturgeon and Colin Beattie, who
00:19was the SNP's former treasurer, have been cleared of the investigation and they're now
00:25no longer under police investigation. The other big development of the day is that Peter
00:28Murrell, who is the former chief executive of the SNP, has a court appearance at Edinburgh
00:33Sheriff Court today and he was released after making no plea. We've heard from both Nicola
00:42Sturgeon and Colin Beattie today on how they're feeling. Let's go and see what Nicola Sturgeon
00:46said first after her announcement at her home, where she said that she felt vindicated and
00:52a lot of relief after being cleared of this investigation.
00:56I was told this morning, at some point, before or after 12pm that I was cleared.
01:02Do you think you'll ever lead the SNP again?
01:05I think the leader of the SNP right now has my full support. I've been able to pursue
01:09things that I enjoy, that I'm passionate about. It wouldn't surprise anybody to hear a lot
01:14of that sort of writing that I've recorded. I'm looking forward to appearing in the Glasgow
01:19Poet Festival this weekend, which is perhaps a bit rash, but there you go.
01:23Do you think you can hold the SNP as well?
01:26I think people are pretty savvy. Of course this will have raised a lot of doubts, but
01:30it's still an ongoing process and I don't want to say anything that gets them in the
01:34way of that. But I think you can see from the SNP's polling right now, I don't want
01:39to say it's an issue of party politics, but I think you can see from the strength of the
01:43SNP's polling right now, that the SNP is still the party that most people rely on,
01:50and I think that is testament to the strength of the party.
01:54If you could sum up how you're feeling today, my wife would be...
01:57Relief, obviously, but this is two words, but maybe a bit of dedication. Thank you.
02:06We also heard from Colin Beattie who has been here in Parliament today, so we heard from
02:10him just shortly about how he is feeling, and he said that he's going to be spending
02:14this evening with his family after a constituency meeting and is definitely going to be raising
02:18a glass with his wife after feeling the relief of being cleared of this investigation.
02:23So let's hear from Colin Beattie.
02:25I knew myself that I'd done nothing wrong, but two years is a long time to be waiting
02:31for the result. It's been a hard time for my family, for my wife and myself, and I still
02:39haven't quite taken it on board, but I've had tremendous support from my constituents,
02:45from my members, and that's been a real help, and even now the messages are pouring in.
02:52My mailbox is blocked from everybody coming in. So I think it's going to be a really good
02:59result for me in terms of we can at least relax and get back to normal family life now.
03:11So you've heard from both of them today, and if you go onto the Scotsman's website you
03:14can see our full coverage of both of those announcements from earlier on today. So just
03:19go onto our website, look at the politics tab, you will see all the details from what happened today.
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