THE Tories are sailing “perilously” close to the wind and ignoring Electoral Commission advice as they try to galvanise support ahead of the election, according to an SNP MSP.

Rona Mackay’s remarks came after one of her constituents, John Hamilton, from Bearsden, contacted The National after receiving a pamphlet from the Scottish Tories, along with an application form for a postal vote.

Hamilton said: “The application form … clearly asked for info to be used by the party and its candidates, together with the request that when completed it should be sent either to the Conservative Party or the electoral registration officer. A SAE was included for return to the Conservative office.”

He then wrote to the electoral registration officer because he thought the leaflet breached the rules and was told while it was “not within the spirit of the Electoral Commission’s best practice guidance”, he was not aware of it breaching any regulations.

“He referred the communication to the Electoral Commission (EC), who confirmed that other complaints had been made on the same matter, that they had written to the party and received confirmation that the AV form would be ‘updated’,” said Hamilton, who then raised the issue with his MSP.

READ MORE: Electoral Commission warn Oliver Mundell MSP over postal vote 'fishing'

The issue bears an uncanny resemblance to the case of David Howdle, in Dumfries and Galloway, at the end of last year when he had a similar experience with the office of Oliver Mundell.

He went through the same process as Hamilton and we reported how the EC noted its displeasure with the Tories when it told him: “We have been in touch with the political party in question to ask them to remind their candidates they should ensure that the local electoral registration officer’s address is clearly provided as the preferred address for the return of registration and absent vote application forms.”

The EC said the law did not prohibit the handling of postal votes or applications by candidates, parties or campaigners, but added: “As was noted in the original piece we have developed a Code of Conduct for campaigners, which applies to all political parties, candidates and their supporters.”

Mackay told The National: “This is the latest, fledgling attempt from the Tories to galvanise support ahead of the election. Not only does this sail perilously close to the wind in terms of electoral law, it also blatantly disregards the clear advice previously set out by the electoral commission.

“Whilst the Tories scramble for ballot box support, the SNP will get on with the day job of guiding Scotland through this pandemic, prioritising economy, health, education and putting Scotland’s future in the hands of the electorate, not Boris Johnson’s.”

Despite a lengthy email exchange, the Scottish Tories have not made any comment.