Scottish election 2021: Independence referendum Nicola Sturgeon doesn't want and Boris Johnson won't allow set to spark long phony war – Euan McColm

For Nicola Sturgeon, winning an election is the easy bit. For as long as Scotland remains divided over the constitutional question, the SNP is bound to do well at the polls.

While the votes of pro-Union Scots split between Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, the SNP unites nationalists. If you want to break up the UK, then you vote SNP in your constituency and, perhaps, back the party’s “taste the difference” range – or the Scottish Greens as they’re better known – on your regional list.

And so it’s hardly surprising that the Nats have just secured a fourth consecutive Holyrood election win.