Questions for the SNP

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney is right to be concerned with the problems caused by delays in postal votes being delivered to those who have applied for them. But whether he is also correct to claim that his party, the SNP, is more seriously affected than others, with voters in key constituencies in danger of being disenfranchised, remains to be seen.

Mr Swinney might also care to provide an unambiguous answer to another key issue relating to the election in the 57 Scottish constituencies. He has said that if his party wins 29 of these seats – ie, a majority – it would give him a mandate to ask whoever emerges as Prime Minister to begin immediate talks with the SNP about Scotland leaving the United Kingdom.

That would entail passing legal authority – a Section 30 order – for a new referendum on independence from the House of Commons, where it currently lies, to the Scottish Parliament. According to Mr Swinney, this would reflect the democratic wishes of the Scottish people.

Even this is not a wholly satisfactory democratic solution, since a party can win a majority of seats without gaining a majority of votes. But of more pressing concern is the answer to the question that the First Minister is consistently refusing to address. What happens if the SNP fails to win a majority of Scottish seats, a scenario which a number of opinion polls have suggested is a real possibility? Will Mr Swinney accept that to be the democratic wish of the Scottish people?

Furthermore, will that also mean that independence – a cause that has dominated and, in the mind of many, blighted Scottish politics for generations – dies a belated death?