From SNP Media:
As fans prepare for the Line of Duty finale tonight, lead actor Martin Compston aka Detective Inspector Steve Arnott, has thrown his support behind the SNP at the election on Thursday.
Compston, also known for roles in The Nest, Mary Queen of Scots, The Wee Man, Monarch of the Glen and Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen, is among the actors, musicians, writers, and cultural figures taking part in the SNP online ‘get out the vote’ rally tonight at 7.00pm with Nicola Sturgeon and thousands of SNP supporters.
Other figures taking part include Hollywood stars Alan Cumming and Brian Cox, leading crime writer Val McDermid, Mogwai musician Stuart Braithwaite, folk singer Iona Fyfe, and TikTok star Littlest Chicken, among others.
In a video message, Martin Compston said:
“Scotland’s future is in your hands. Don’t leave it to chance.
“The only way to make sure we re-elect Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister is to make it #BothVotesSNP.
“Make sure you and all your pals get out to vote.”
SNP MP Mhairi Black, who has conducted an interview with the actor for tonight’s rally, said:
“The election on Thursday is the most important in Scotland’s history – and every vote will count.
“Only by casting both votes for the SNP can we guarantee Nicola Sturgeon is re-elected as First Minister to keep Scotland safe through covid, build a strong, fair and green recovery, and put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.
“I want to thank Martin and all of the actors, writers, musicians, and cultural figures who have given their support to the SNP at this crucial election. The last year has changed our world. This year we have the opportunity to build a better and fairer future for Scotland by voting SNP.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
Free to use video clip available for download and media use:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V7CfBgVr8eCDdWQNT0irJzJmzhLF23TF/view?usp=sharing
Transcript of Mhairi Black MP’s interview with Martin Compston
Interview
Mhairi Black:
Hello, Martin. As you are here in a personal capacity, I’ll remind you that you no longer reserve the right to be interviewed by someone at least one rank senior. At this moment in time, as you are well aware, there is great public interest surrounding a clandestine network of corrupt police officers working with organised crime.
So let’s not waste time here son. Are you the fourth man known as ‘H’?
Martin: No comment.
Mhairi Black: Will you survive tonight’s episode?
Martin: No comment.
Mhairi Black: Moving on then, and this will not be the last reference to Line Duty here. But this evening we are interested in one thing and one thing only. So, can you tell us why this election is so important?
Martin Compston: Well look, every election is important, of course. We’re coming out of something here, this pandemic, this crisis that none of us have faced before.
I think even people who don’t like Nicola Sturgeon, for whatever reason, have had to admit that she has been by far the most competent leader on these islands dealing with this crisis. And she’s the one I think is best placed to take us forward getting out of it. So, I do really think that we are in a situation now where we need the best people, the most competent people, in charge of Scotland. To make sure that we come out of this a better place than we went in.
Mhairi Black: What would your message be to voters at this election?
Martin Compston: Get out and vote.
Everyone is allowed an opinion. Whether that be politicians down south or some lovely incredible entertainers who have moved abroad for whatever reason. Myself, I’ve lived across the world. That’s the beauty of free speech. Everyone is allowed an opinion. But what matters is votes. And it’s the the people who live here, work here, and who vote here, whose gonna make the difference.
And whether that be for this election or any other election moving forward or moving forward. Because let’s be honest about this stuff, if we had a functioning Westminster that really cared about every region of the UK. That didn’t take parts of the UK out of Europe against its will.
And the decisions, the big decisions, whether it be Scotland’s future relationship with Europe, whether it be nuclear weapons on the Clyde, are best taken by the people who live here.
And we can’t forever live in this perennial situation, where it’s just Tory government after Tory government at Westminster, who don’t care about Scotland. And they just leave us in these miserable situations, which make us feel utterly powerless to deal with. We have to be in control of our own destiny. And the only way to do that is through an SNP or an independence majority at the Scottish Parliament. And then we take it from there.
Mhairi Black: Excellent! No, thank you for joining us, Martin. I know your time is precious, and genuinely, I’m hooked on Line of Duty. I rewatched it from the start. So to keep things moving so that we can all watch the finale at 9 pm tonight, I’ll hand over to you. Thanks Alan [Cumming]
—
The SNP ‘Get Out The Vote’ online rally will be broadcast tonight from 7pm on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theSNP
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theSNP
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFC3ntpoGZB3dODA3A9rHFQ
More information: https://www.facebook.com/theSNP/posts/10159437223594078
snpmedia@snpmedia.net
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
Totally of topic but blood boiling after reading Douglas Fraser’s latest on the care sector
“Weaknesses were further exposed by Covid. Health Minister Jeane Freeman sought to blame the high number of deaths on private residential care homes. She since conceded that deaths had more to do with discharges from hospitals, ordered by ministers”.
Seems like the BBC can say anything they like – no easy way to hit back, a useless and toothless complaints system
Bet Martin Compton won’t feature in many LoD interviews in case he speaks up for independence
First rant of the day now complete!
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Nothing shouts desperation more loudly, nor appears more patronising than lining up “celebrities” to repeat the party mantra. If the proles are still too stupid to get the point, let’s get a famous person to persuade them because famous people are obviously better placed that ordinary proles to know what’s best. It’s not a good look, employing the same tactics as Tories and the Better Together campaign.
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To be fair – and to be accurate – the ‘programme’ that featured the ‘celebrities’ had as its overall theme “Get out the Vote”. It was explicitly promoted as a ‘digital rally’ aimed at SNP members and yes, with an open invitation to others to watch too. As is probably well known here, THE KEY ISSUE for party activists in the closing days of this or any election campaign is to ‘get out the vote’! And the digital rally’s explicit purpose was: “To inject even more energy into the final days of the campaign ..”
My understanding is that it did NOT have the aim of proselytising to the wider electorate – it was a ‘rally’ and a rally is for supporters. By contrast, the use of celebrities by the Better Together campaign clearly, explicitly did seek to proselytise, to influence undecided voters.
Could other factors influence a comparative analysis that concludes, pejoratively, that the SNP’s digital rally for supporters had the same characteristics as the Better Together campaign? I wonder.
And for the avoidance of doubt, if there was spillover benefit in terms of gaining additional SNP votes due to the ‘Get out the Vote’ rally reaching a wider, undecided audience – which I doubt – then that’s OK with me.
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Good, but the ‘Both votes SNP’ mantra is not helpful to the independence cause. It’s astonishing to me that after more than 20 years, Scots still don’t understand how the voting system works. Civics should be a mandatory course in Scottish schools to teach the young about how our system of government works. Once we are independent, I hope this will be the case but the SNP government should have been mandating this for years.
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No mention of independence, which says everything about Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP.
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Doug, the SNP are being very clear that this election is about Scotland’s right to choose. Since NS took over the leadership she has consistently said that we will not get independence until a majority of folk in Scotland vote for it. Do you think we’re at that point or are you prepared to risk everything on a referendum because you feel we can get a majority on this? My worry is that all the talk of super majorities is masking the fact that on independence the country is still fairly evenly split between yes and no. I would much rather wait a little longer and win a referendum than barge ahead and maybe lose. It’s frustrating, nobody committed to independence wants to wait any longer than we have to but I never want to be back feeling like I did in Sept 14 when despite all the passion and favourable polls we just didn’t get the support needed.
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Spot on
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