Scottish Catholic Observer

The elections are to be held across Europe on May 23-26, with voting in the UK taking place on Thursday 23 May.

There is a total of 48 candidates in Scotland across the SNP, the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour, the Scottish Greens, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Change UK, the Brexit party and two independent candidates.

Candidates

Scotland is represented by six MEPs, three of whom are hoping to keep their positions.

MEPs Alyn Smith, Nosheena Mobarik and David Martin are standing again as candidates, while the remaining three are to step down.

Ahead of the vote, Anthony Horan, director of the Catholic Parliamentary Office, said: “Every election presents us with an opportunity to reflect on Catholic social teaching and engage with democracy for the common good.

“Whilst voters may reasonably feel a sense of frustration and indifference towards politics due to ongoing uncertainties, as Christians we must seek to uphold the beauty and goodness of Church teaching and participate as fully as possible in the democratic process.”

Predictions

In Scotland it is projected by YouGov that the SNP is set to take up to 40 per cent of the vote, with Labour at 14 per cent and the Conservatives at 10 per cent.

Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party were sitting at 13 per cent.

Last month, two Change UK candidates stepped down after offensive Twitter posts were revealed. Joseph Russo described the owner of popular fast food chain Dominos Pizza as a ‘loony catholic’ and referred to a woman as a ‘black wh***.’

Ali Sadjady also stepped down after an offensive post in which he made a joke about ‘Romanian pickpockets.’