THE SNP have rebuffed growing pressure to publish data on its membership.
A host of parliamentarians – including all three candidates to take over as party leader – have called for the publication of the SNP membership numbers.
On Wednesday, Ash Regan, with the support of Kate Forbes, penned a letter to SNP chief executive Peter Murrell asking for him to detail the number of “paid-up” party members.
It emerged that Humza Yousaf’s campaign had previously also urged the SNP to publish details of the membership.
The three candidates’ calls echoed those of the party’s former leader at Westminster Ian Blackford, who said it would be “better” to have the data made public.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf campaign helped by Nicola Sturgeon aide
The SNP’s most senior MP, Pete Wishart, has also called for the data to be released.
He wrote on Twitter: “For goodness sake. Can someone in HQ just let everybody know the size of the leadership electorate. If not the conspiracy theories will make Trump look like Nelson Mandela …”
However, on Wednesday evening the SNP rebuffed the requests.
A spokesperson said: "Candidates have already been made aware that responsibility for the leadership election does not rest with any member of staff."
It is understood that the party plans to publish the number of votes cast, the percentage share, and the turnout of the leadership election after the ballot has closed.
That data should allow for the number of paid-up members of the SNP to be extrapolated.
Later reports suggested that the SNP's ruling National Executive Committee is to meet and decide on whether or not to publish the figures.
If the NEC votes to release the data, it is understood that they will be published on Thursday.
Regan's campaign team has issued an ultimatum to the SNP leadership, saying they will hold a press conference outside Holyrood at 3pm on Thursday if a "satisfactory response addressing our legitimate request" has not been received by then.
SNP accounts published by the Electoral Commission in August 2022 stated that the party had 103,884 members in December 2021.
There has been speculation that the number has fallen since then. SNP president Michael Russell suggested in this paper that some 65,000 members might vote, but that wouldn't represent the full extent of the party membership.
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