SNP can’t be allowed to rush us into election

It appears that Nicola Sturgeon has decreed that there should be no political campaigning prior to the Holyrood election in May, except for by herself, obviously. In a time of Covid, leafleting is deemed to be too risky.

If that is the case, then the election needs to be postponed for six months, because if the public cannot engage with those seeking election, then the opportunity for democratic debate and scrutiny does not exist. An online campaign sidelines those people who do not do their politics in that way, and this would hand too much undue advantage to the party in power, which is presumably the point of all this.

There are three other points to consider. First, in 2016 Nicola Sturgeon said that her government would be judged on education, but the OECD report on this will not be published until June. She can therefore only be judged after that point.

Second, this business of the Alex Salmond accusations and the aftermath to those needs to be cleared up in advance of any election, and it appears at the moment that the tactic is to try to run down the clock so that the committee investigating this runs out of time.

Third,andmostimportantly, we need the pandemic to pass and for people to have time to reflect on this and decide in their own minds what the priorities for the future actually are.

The SNP don’t deserve a moment longer in power than is strictly necessary, but they must not be able to rush us through an election in which only they are able to effectively have their say. Scotland is becoming more like a banana republic without the bananas every day. This is not going to end well.

VICTOR CLEMENTS

Aberfeldy, Perthshire