Critical of press headlines

As the Convenor of the S. N. P. Liaison Committee, for Ayr Carrick and Cumnock, I would like the right of reply to the Editor of the Ayrshire Post, for the use of the inappropriate and inflammatory front page headline in the edition of September 25 “Daggers Out in SNP Duel”.

Just as the toxic tone and language being used in the Brexit shambles at Westminster is inexcusable and rightly condemned by many, equally it is also totally unacceptable in the Ayrshire Post. Your reporter should remember the tragic murder by the use of a knife, of a Labour MP in 2016.

Journalists while free to criticise decisions, or individual actions by politicians also have a responsibility to uphold standards. Politics is a rough business and while I would respect the right of journalists to use leaked information passed to them, allbeit anonymously, they also have a responsibility to use moderate language in their reporting.

The elections for a candidate to stand as a prospective parliamentary candidate are an internal Party process and by your pejorative report, in the Ayrshire Post, you have put at risk a free and fair election for the candidates involved. Democracy is a fragile thing and by no means perfect, but better than other alternatives, and as such it should be cherished. No individual is perfect or above the law, including Boris Johnson the current Prime Minister. It is not easy to put oneself up for election at any level of Government, and when the local press demonises candidates, councillors, MSPs or Members of Parliament it does