In a recent Holyrood debate on rural communities, shadow rural affairs secretary Peter Chapman said the SNP had “turned its back” on the countryside.

He said nationalists were too focused on centralising things in the central belt and their obsession with independence was distracting from governing communities up and down Scotland.

The shocking delay in single farm payments is just one example of this. It is a very worrying trend that is coming from the SNP lead government.

We in Scotland's rural communities are constantly being sidelined in these 'one size fits all' SNP policies.

Scotland's rural communities deserve better.

Alastair Redman