THE timing of the election and widespread delays in postal votes are leaving Scottish voters “disenfranchised” as the summer getaway begins, according to the First Minister.

SNP leader John Swinney had already branded the Prime Minister’s decision to call the general election in the first week of the Scottish school holidays “disrespectful,” but concerns are now growing that delays mean that many Scots will have left on holiday before their ballots arrive.

Mr Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland: “In an election where there will be a number of marginal contests in Scotland — because there is a really intense contest going on here in Scotland — I am worried people will be disenfranchised.

“About 25 per cent of the electorate now vote by post, I don’t know what proportion of postal voters have or have not received their ballot papers.

 “The day the Prime Minister called the election I expressed my concern this election was going to take place during the Scottish school summer holidays.

“But here we are, just as I feared we would be: people leaving Scotland on their holidays have applied for postal votes [but] haven’t got them.”