SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf faces renewed calls to suspend predecessor Nicola Sturgeon

Humza Yousaf faced renewed calls to suspend Nicola Sturgeon yesterday as SNP chiefs remained silent on whether she will return to Holyrood this week.

Senior government figures believe the former First Minister is likely to face questions ‘imminently’ from police over the probe into the party’s finances.

But her spokesman yesterday refused to say whether she intends to return to the Scottish parliament for the first time since the arrest of her husband, Peter Murrell, earlier this month.

The ex-SNP chief executive was released without charge pending further investigation after being questioned by officers. 

Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy said: ‘It’s not surprising the SNP don’t want to talk about Nicola Sturgeon, given the toxic saga she appears to be embroiled in.

‘However, Humza Yousaf’s refusal to suspend her from the SNP means he cannot continue to dodge legitimate questions over his former boss and mentor.

‘The new First Minister must urgently come clean about what correspondence he has had with Nicola Sturgeon, Peter Murrell and [ex-SNP treasurer] Colin Beattie over the SNP’s finances and he must now take decisive action to suspend all three from the SNP until this scandal is resolved.’

He also said Ms Sturgeon ‘cannot be allowed to go into hiding’.

Ms Sturgeon did not attend Holyrood last week ‘in order to ensure the focus of this week is on the new First Minister setting out his priorities for the people of Scotland’ and took part remotely instead.

But her spokesman yesterday refused to confirm if she would return from tomorrow. Ms Sturgeon is the only named office-holder on the latest SNP accounts not arrested in the probe.