A beleaguered but defiant Nicola Sturgeon insists she will “not quit” as an MSP.
The former first minister of the SNP said she has “done nothing wrong” amid a police investigation.
Ms Sturgeon was arrested “as a suspect” on June 11 and interviewed for more than seven hours by officers investigating the SNP’s finances.
She was released without charge pending further inquiries.
On her return to the Scottish Parliament, she said:
“I will always consider what is in the best interests of the SNP.
“I repeat now, I don’t say it as any kind of suggestion [that] it’s been a sacrifice.
“That is something that I cherish and continue to cherish.
“But I am also an individual who is entitled to assert what I believe to my very core, which is that I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Admitting she could “absolutely understand” why some in the SNP had called for her to step aside, Ms Sturgeon added:
“I am trying to give myself the ability, notwithstanding what is going on right now, to do my job, because I have a job to do on behalf of my constituency and I’m going to do it.”
