Military son of retired senior Scottish police officer 'disenfranchised' after postal vote failed to turn up

Niven Rennie, the former head of Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit, said he is “angry” his son – an RAF officer based in England, who does not wish to be named - has yet to receive his postal ballot for his constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock and will not be able to cast his vote.

Critics, including First Minister John Swinney, have warned many Scots may miss out on the chance to vote due to the general election being called at short notice for the first week of the Scottish school holidays, when many people are away.

Even some people who registered for a postal vote well within the deadline have not received their ballot in time.

Mr Rennie, who now works as a business consultant and was also president of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, said the situation “brings into question the whole democratic process”.

He said: “I feel very angry. I know [my son] is angry.”

His son contacted his local electoral office and asked to have his father vote on his behalf, but was told it was against the law to change his postal vote to a proxy one.

“The ultimate for me is my son has been disenfranchised and his vote will not count,” Mr Rennie said. “The understanding of the British constitution is that every adult person should get a vote. What has happened here is that a whole lot of people have been disenfranchised.”

Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock is a marginal constituency as, in the previous 2019 general election, it had an SNP hold with 20,272 votes compared with the Conservatives who received 17,943 votes.

“It does call into question a number of results because they are marginal,” Mr Rennie said. “I’m absolutely flabbergasted. I would have thought in a mature democracy like the United Kingdom that we could make sure these things were operated.”

A South Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of delays nationally with postal votes. The delays have not been a result of local processes, and South Ayrshire Council have taken urgent steps to ensure that, where possible, all residents can cast their vote on Thursday.”