RISHI Sunak was last night accused of showing "contempt" for Scotland after he called a snap general election for the first week of the school summer holidays.
The embattled Prime Minister finally bowed to pressure and named July 4 as the day voters will finally be given a chance to boot the Tories out of office after 14 years.
The Conservatives face a trouncing as they trail Labour by 20 points in the polls, with Sir Keir Starmer on the verge of a historic victory.
But the timing of the election means many families north of the Border will already have left home to enjoy long-planned sunshine holidays.
The majority of Scots schools will close for the summer break in the last week of June.
John Swinney claimed that Sunak's choice of date showed "contempt" for Scots.
The First Minister said: "This is perhaps the latest act of disrespect from a Conservative government to call an election during the Scottish summer school holidays.
"There will be schools in Scotland on holiday by the time polling day comes and that will not have been given a moment's thought by the Tory election planners.
"It shows the contempt the Tories have for Scotland." The general election campaign will also have to compete for attention with the European Championships in Germany, which kick off on June 14.
Steve Clarke's Scotland side will take on the host nation in Munich in the tournament's eagerly awaited opening game before facing Switzerland and Hungary the following week.
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