The SNP will be desperate at the General election date falls during school holidays, reports say. Scottish First Minister John Swinney accused the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of showing contempt for the country vote for the 4th of July.
Pupils in Scotland go on summer holidays earlier than those in England and Wales, with some schools closing as early as June.
Labor campaigner Ian Smart told Yahoo! News that he estimated that 30 percent of Scots with children would be away from home on July 4.
Mr. Swinney insisted SNP is in a “very good” position to fight the election. This is despite the party struggling to raise donations amid a police investigation into its finances.
The SNP has also been rocked by the resignation of former Prime Minister Humza Yousaf and on Thursday (23 May) the chairman of the Scottish Parliament's standards committee used his casting vote to remove former SNP Minister Michael Matheson is banned from Holyrood for 27 days. Matheson racked up a data roaming bill worth almost £11,000 on his parliamentary iPad during a family holiday in Morocco.
Mr Swinney told Sky on Thursday: “I think it will be a challenging election for us… we've obviously had a tough time as a party but I've come into the party leadership, I've been through two and after half a week it's the party is already together, it is very united.”
Both Tories and Labor rejected Mr Swinney's complaint about the date choice, pointing out that Scottish voters who would be on holiday could vote by post so turnout would not have to be affected.
The Conservatives and Labor welcomed the summer elections. Labor leader sir Keir Starmer had been calling for a general election for weeks.
A Labor strategist quoted by the Daily telegramsaid prior to the election announcement: “If I have a SNP MP, I would be on my hands and knees begging Rishi Sunak not to hold elections. Even [SNP Westminster leader] Stephen Flynn looks like he could lose his seat.”
Another senior Scottish Conservative strategist told the same publication that the party has put a lot of effort into its target seats amid concerns about the election being halted. SNP. They said now is a good time for the elections and that the party is “fit and ready to go”.
Scottish Tories Leader Douglas Ross was in bullish form on Thursday. He told the BBC: “The Scots Conservatives will take the fight to the SNPdefeat the nationalists in crucial seats across Scotland and bring the focus back to what people have been telling me at my door for months that they want their governments to focus on.
“It's about improving our education system, investing in the NHS, it's about growing our economy, creating good jobs, but they know it's going to be a very close fight in crucial seats between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP.
'If they support the Scots Conservativestheir priorities will be at the forefront; if they support the nationalists it will be about independence.”
Mr Ross added that voters have had enough of Mr Swinney and the SNP's obsession with independence.
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar said the people of Britain are “desperate for change”.