Rishi Sunak has disrupted family holiday plans and turned the July 4 election into a rush for postal votes.
The date is in the middle of the first week of the Scottish school holidays across most of Scotland – except Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Politicians were quick to point out the date clash when the prime minister named the date in a rain-soaked announcement outside Downing Street on Wednesday at 5pm.
Orkney and Shetland Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael said: “It is not the best date for Scottish parents as the school holidays will be under way by then but that was obviously not a consideration for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives.”
He encouraged people to sort out their postal votes as soon as possible.
Perthshire MP Pete Wishart wrote: “A Scottish school summer holiday election is the final insult this Tory Government can impose on Scotland.”
He added that they will “not care a jot”.
Alba MP Neale Hanvey, contesting Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy at the election, said: “Sums up a Westminster government clueless to the goings on in Scotland.
“There would need to be a massive postal vote drive as last year more than half of Scots took a summer holiday outwith the UK. Many of them will not be at home to vote on polling day.”
However, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross – MP for Moray – said he’s ready for the vote, singling out the SNP as opponents.
“The Scottish Conservatives are ready to take the fight to the SNP and beat the nationalists in crucial seats up and down Scotland,” he said.
When are schools on holiday across the north and north-east?
In Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, term ends on July 5 – a week later than many others.
But in Moray and in the Highlands, term ends on June 28.
Schools in Western Isles close on June 27.
Shetland closes schools on June 28.
And in Orkney, term ends on July 3.
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