Kemi Badenoch: John Swinney's hands 'not clean' in Peter Murrell scandal

With just 48 hours to go until the polls open on the Aberdeen South and the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry by-elections, the UK Conservative leader told voters this is the last chance to save the North Sea oil and gas sector.

She was in Cove for her third visit to the north-east in this by-election campaign.

Ms Badenoch said many nationalist voters on the doorsteps in Aberdeen South are “disappointed” with the SNP on the back of the Murrell scandal.

Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, is due to be sentenced after being found guilty of embezzling £400,000 from the party next week.

Ms Badenoch also implied that Mr Swinney is not off the hook when it comes to this scandal that has engulfed Scottish politics.

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Speaking to journalists at Cove Rangers FC, Ms Badenoch said: “I think many voters have been scandalised, to use the word by the revelations that have come out of the whole saga with Peter Murrell.

“John Swinney’s hands are not clean in this. He first appointed him, so this is an SNP scandal.

“What we’ve been hearing on the doorstep is not just the fear for oil and gas, but also how disappointed people are with the SNP.

“So if you’re annoyed with the SNP, then do not let the SNP candidate win in Aberdeen South, and the only way to stop that is to vote for Douglas Lumsden.”

She also told The Scotsman that an SNP win in the Aberdeen South by-election would be “goodbye to oil and gas”.

Murrell was first appointed as the party’s chief executive in 2001 when Mr Swinney was first in charge

In Ms Badenoch’s speech, she also said that a Conservative win in the Aberdeen South by-election would “send a message to the SNP that we need to get Britain drilling again and we need to get Scotland drilling again”.

Polls open at 7am on Thursday 18 June. The SNP has been approached for comment.