Three Holyrood committees have refused to work with MPs to investigate the Peter Murrell embezzlement scandal.

The move makes a Westminster inquiry into the SNP and its ex-chief executive more likely.

Labour MP Patricia Ferguson, chair of the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC), wrote to Holyrood’s finance, public audit and standards committees in July.

She asked them to ‘explore the potential’ for ‘joint working’ on the Murrell case.

But the conveners of all three rebuffed the request, adding to pressure on the SAC to hold its own probe.

Labour peer George Foulkes has also suggested a Murrell inquiry in the Lords.

Murrell, 61, was jailed for more than five years in June after admitting embezzling £400,000 from the SNP between 2010 and 2022 while its top official.

He was married to Nicola Sturgeon throughout, including eight years when she was SNP leader and First Minister, and he spent thousands on luxury items for their home.

Peter Murrell was found guilty after embezzling funds from the SNP

Despite SNP insiders warning of poor financial controls and Murrell having too much power, John Swinney has repeatedly refused to order an SNP inquiry into what happened.

Ms Sturgeon, who is estranged from Murrell, denies knowing about his crime spree.

In her July letter, Ms Ferguson said that, although the police’s Operation Branchform and Murrell’s prosecution ‘established criminal culpability in this case, some of the wider issues raised may merit examination’.

Some related to Holyrood and some ‘straddle the jurisdiction of both parliaments’, she said, adding: ‘The preference of the Scottish Affairs Committee would be for Holyrood to lead scrutiny on this case.

‘In the absence of any such inquiry, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss whether there could be scope for joint or co-ordinated work between our Committees.

‘This joint working would have the benefit of comprehensively covering both reserved and devolved matters raised by this case, and of doing so in a co-ordinated manner.’

But SNP finance convener Clare Haughey said the matter was outside her committee’s remit and it was ‘therefore unable to work jointly with you on this issue’.

Neil Bibby, Labour chair of the Public Audit Committee, said it had consulted the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS) and found ‘several factors would preclude such an undertaking’.

These included AGS not covering ‘the funding of political parties’ and other watchdogs covering police and prosecutors.

SNP Standards convener Jenni Minto said ‘the balance of views’ among its MSPs ‘was that it was not clear scrutiny of these issues falls within the committee’s remit or current priorities’.

Ms Ferguson said: ‘The committee will consider the responses from the three Holyrood committees later this week.’