Sunak as Prime Minister is a total affront to democracy - Angus Robertson MSP

A total affront to democracy. That’s what this Tory government is. If one unelected Prime Minister wasn’t enough, the Tories are once again going to crown the UK’s leader without any consultation with the country.

It appears to be of no issue to them that the UK’s shortest-ever serving Prime Minister crashed the economy and has thrown us all further into utter turmoil. It does not matter to them that the manifesto upon which they were elected to deliver lies in tatters.

They are making policy up on the hoof - and it is all policy that is attempting to correct the damage they have inflicted upon the country over the last 12 years of government.

Not only that, the man taking up the reigns is further continuation of the Johnson brand. Sunak was Boris Johnson’s closest friend in Government - or was until he stabbed him in the back for his first go at getting the top job. So close was Sunak with Johnson that he also received a fine from the Metropolitan police for partying in Downing Street.

This means that the next Prime Minister has broken the law while holding one of the so-called high offices of state. More to the point, Sunak has demonstrated his contempt to the public by refusing to abide by the laws he and Boris Johnson set for the rest of the nation.

Shamelessly, without a hint of concern for democracy, the unelected Sunak will take up post and continue the mismanagement of the economy and our country. After the sheer horror of the Truss show, it’s difficult to see Sunak as anything other than the leader of administrators who have been called in to manage the decline and wrapping up of the United Kingdom as an entity. Though, with the Tories’ obsession with handing billions of pounds of contracts to global consultancy firms, perhaps they will commission one of them to do this job, too.

The UK public should not have to put up with this, yet we are subject to the whims of the Tory party. Let’s be honest, clearly it is not remotely in their interest to call an election. With current polling, the Tory party would be eviscerated. Some polls suggest that the Tories would win so few seats that the SNP would become the UK’s official opposition to a Labour Government. On the basis of pure self-interest, Tory MPs will be more concerned with keeping jobs for as long as they can rather than acting in the best interests of the nation.

The Scottish Government will continue to act in every way we can to mitigate the disastrous decisions of the Tories. But, it is crystal clear that the right thing for the UK right now—the right thing for democracy—is to have a general election and throw this government out. It is a turbulent time, and an election is not ideal. However, the most damaging path we can take is allowing the Tories to stay in Government.

Rishi Sunak's entry to Number 10 is an affront to democracy, writes Angus Robertson.

The best path for us in Scotland is independence in the EU, a choice about which the Scottish people have expressed time after time in election after election in recent years. That referendum is coming.

Angus Robertson is the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture and MSP for Edinburgh Central