Letter: Nationalist ploy?

IT IS an indisputable fact that many more turn out to vote in a UK general election than they do in local or Holyrood polls. It is also indisputable that the SNP has a zealous but proportionally small band of followers who will vote when many others of all parties will not make the effort. Ergo, despite the democratic deficit it suggests, small turnouts suit the SNP and disadvantage their opponents.

One does not, therefore, need to be the greatest cynic to realise that holding general elections or a UK-wide AV referendum on the same day as the Holyrood poll (your reports, 14 October) seriously disadvantages the SNP. Their predicted defeat next year could turn into a rout if anywhere near a general election turnout is achieved.

So, it is with astonishment I see some in the non-Nationalist parties insulting the intelligence of the electorate by arguing that it is "too complicated'', following the SNP line and arguing for a separate date. Surely, one wonders, they cannot be so foolish as not to see the SNP ploy?

ALEXANDER McKAY

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh