Wigtown Book Festival celebrates the power of the written word but Scottish PEN is deeply concerned about how unwarranted and suspicionless surveillance can undermine the ability of novelists, poets and playwrights to express themselves free from coercion or duress.

The SNP’s amendment to ensure that meaningful judicial oversight extends to Scotland, instead of the ministerial mechanism currently in place, is a vital amendment that Scottish organisations, commentators and policy-makers should get behind.