General election campaigning suspended as mark of respect

General election campaigning across the UK was suspended following the Manchester atrocity.

The SNP had been due to launch its manifesto, but the event was postponed.

Meanwhile, flags at the Scottish Parliament flew at half mast.

With every seat in the House of Commons vacant there are no MPs and therefore no parliament to recall in the aftermath of the Manchester bombing.

Dissolution of the last parliament occurred on May 3 to enable the June 8 general election.

Elsewhere, the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly held a minute’s silence and offered prayers for the victims.

The Rt Rev Dr Derek Browning, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, led a gathering in prayer and a minute’s silence for the victims of the attack when the assembly opened yesterday morning.

He said: “When the news of this appalling and brutal act in Manchester came to us, most of us will have been stunned.

“That young people and children, with others, could be the subject of what police are now treating as a premeditated act of violence is beyond comprehension. There is no cause, political or religious, that justifies actions of senseless brutality, anywhere or at any time.

“Today the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland offers its prayer and deepest concern to all who have been caught up in this action. The young people and their families and friends, the emergency and security services, and the people of that great city of Manchester.

“We pray for them and send our sincerest wishes of peace to come in this heart-rending situation.”