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I heard a cosmologist speak recently who said that it was easier to explain black holes than to decipher how a human being makes decisions.

Realising this may be a fool’s errand, can I share a few thoughts with anyone who is thinking of voting Tory on Thursday.

It is not hard to understand why so many are frustrated at the possibility of another referendum on independence. Ruth Davidson has skilfully tapped into this anger.

For good reason, many have said that one way to judge how we really are as a country is to examine how we treat our most vulnerable. It is an insightful test.

I met a doctor before writing the script for I, Daniel Blake. He told me of one of his patients who went through the employment and support assessment carried out by the US multinational Maximus.

(Image: Daily Record)

He didn’t get enough points and was deemed fit for work and had to sign on, spending 35 hours a week looking for work.

His patient was dying of cancer and had three other major health conditions. He couldn’t walk more than 50 yards without stopping.

One day, he collapsed in his flat, smashed his head against the wall, and an ambulance was called. He refused to get in the ambulance.

The reason – he was signing on the next day and was terrified about getting a sanction, stopping his benefits.

So this Edinburgh man spent his last months hounded by the thought of penury. I’ve often thought of him and how the policies of the State added to his misery.

This leads us to food banks. We heard stories up and down the country. I recall the face of a mother, shaking with fury and shame, as she told how she fed her kids biscuits after being sanctioned for the most pedantic of reasons.

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In the year before making the film, there were just under a million sanctions in the UK. Many were for the most trivial of reasons – one for being at their child’s birth after phoning the DWP to explain, another for attending a funeral.

The huge increase in sanctions was an arbitrary political decision taken by the Tory party.

We have a Government who use hunger as punishment, not only for adults but for children. Hunger as a weapon, as a political instrument of choice.

In a just world that would be a crime against humanity.

Why is food not the essential issue in the election campaign?

Professor Simon Capewell from Liverpool University has talked about the return of Victorian diseases such as scurvy and rickets. Last year, more than 16,000 people were admitted to hospital with malnutrition, which Capewell said was probably the tip of the iceberg.

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Three million children don’t get enough to eat during holidays because they miss school meals.

And there is a 17 per cent increase in food bank referrals in areas where universal credit has come in as people are left destitute for at least six weeks while waiting for their claim.

Watching Work and Pensions Secretary Damien Green speak at the select committee in Holyrood after our film came out will be ingrained in my mind for ever.

He was asked by an MSP about the connection between decisions by Maximus and a suicide.

He said he “regretted the politicisation of a human tragedy” then said there was no proof of connection between ESA decisions and suicide. I detest it when accusations of lying are thrown out in a casual Trumpian fashion.

Mary Hassal, a coroner of St Pancras, London, wrote to the DWP after an inquest into Michael O’Sullivan’s death: “I found that the trigger for Mr O’Sullivan’s suicide was his recent assessment by a DWP doctor as being fit for work.

(Image: Getty Images)

“In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe that you and the JobCentre Plus have the power to take such action.”

Michael was one of many of our most vulnerable citizens, driven to an early grave. So for the record, Mr Green, I want to say: you are a brazen-faced liar.

Please consider the following two questions before you make that mark in the ballot box.

1. Do you support the use of hunger as punishment?

2. Do you support the assessment of our sick and vulnerable by a US multinational when more than 60 per cent of appeals against them are successful, and should they be making profit out of the misery?

It is only human nature to examine how the policies of each party will affect our own families. But that’s far from the full story.

(Image: Michal WachucikMICHAL WACHUCIK/AFP/Getty Images)

Both London and Manchester demonstrate our instinctive empathy with our neighbour. But sometimes we don’t see them, and they are denied a voice. We saw them as we filmed I, Daniel Blake.

Next time you hear the words “strong and stable leadership,” think hunger. It is all around us, hidden behind shame, in every community of our country.

Ruth Davidson has a bouncy disposition, a polished soundbite, and a ready smile. Next time you see her talk of IndyRef2, think hunger.

Behind her is Damien Green, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson. She is the Trojan horse of Scottish politics.

Maybe IndyRef2 will come. Maybe it won’t. If you are upset by it, vote No when the time comes.

But if you vote Tory on Thursday, please be aware of this …

You are supporting a party who systematically abuse many of our most vulnerable citizens. That is a certainty.