Two loans made by former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell to his party in 2018 should have been declared earlier, the Electoral Commission has said.

However the elections watchdog said it can only consider the matter after the conclusion of the ongoing police investigation into the SNP’s finances.

In 2018, Murrell, who is former Scotland first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, made two loans of £7,500 to the party, which have recently been published on the commission’s website.

The first of these started on March 22 and the second started on April 25.

They were both repaid in full shortly after starting, with the second one being completely repaid within two days.

The SNP has said these were “short-term loans” but the party has not elaborated further on what they were for.

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