Holyrood 2026 key dates
Important dates for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election
Deadline for registering a new party or amending details with the Electoral Commission - 5pm Friday, 30 January
Notice of election published - Between Monday, 16 March and Wednesday, 25 March
Nomination papers deadline - Wednesday, 1 April
Deadline for withdrawing as a candidate - Wednesday, 1 April
MSPs attend Holyrood for last time - Thursday, 8 April
Parliament dissolved - Friday, 9 April
Deadline for applications for voter registration - Monday, 20 April
New postal vote and postal proxy applications deadline, and deadline for changes to existing postal or proxy votes - Tuesday, 21 April
Deadline to apply for proxy voting - Tuesday, 28 April
Polling Day - Thursday, 7 May
Count and declarations - Friday, 8 May
OT - National article yesterday: "Keir Starmer blew hole in claims of ‘independent UK nuclear deterrent’"
and another one today with another CND person saying:
"with Starmer this week admitting during a press conference that Trident relied on Washington"
as though it's new news.He did no such thing - he just restated a position that has been totally open knowledge for decades, including me posting details btl in the Herald during Indy Ref. The UK gets its Trident missiles from a pool of 55 from Kings Bay in the Us, and at any one time with NPT there are just 8 out of 16 tubes on Vanguard loaded - with a 55 ton missile married to a warhead using the mobile dock at Faslane, and another boat taking over every 3 or 6 months for a total of 16 missiles out of 55; simple maths say that this gives a maximum of 6 month or so with some being serviced in the US.
Laughable crap like that doesn't help; there is indeed a debate to be had now because of Trump - is it worth spending billions on a deterrent the US can cancel (illegally) without notice effectively with just 6 month use then afterwards? Even those who believe in the nuclear deterrent may well say "no".
The CND should know better, in fact, they actually do - they're usually quite well informed not surprisingly - this information is all in the public domain.
Headline grabbing sensationalism is no substitute for truthful and open debate.
One date missing:
Deadline for registering new party or amending details with the EC: 5pm on Friday 30th January