Scotland punches massively above its weight in the UK.  It has often been punished for having the audacity to be progressive by UK governments that are not – especially in the 80s and 90s – but it has also suffered at the hands of governments that have taken it for granted.  Labour’s record from 1997-2010 is a shameful one – their lazy assumption that Scotland would just vote Labour led to Scotland’s interests being ignored.

 Scotland has progressive and radical heart, its strong sense of community makes it inclined towards social democracy, but it has a personality that is unmistakeably individualistic, dare I say Liberal.  Scotland’s nature is to be Liberal. The job of Liberal Democrats is to connect with Scotland’s Liberalism and to campaign in a way that chimes naturally with the Scottish natural identity. 

I’m an Englishman, but I consider myself a northerner and British before I consider myself English, as a Cumbrian MP, we share much of the same media and have incredibly strong economic and cultural ties.  I’ve more in common with folks in Galashiels than I do with folks in Guildford for example, and the same can be said of my constituents. 

It breaks my heart that Alex Salmond has an agenda to fracture Britain in a way that will make us all poorer.  A proud Scottish identity is vital, but a centralising, intolerant nationalism is an anathema to what it is to be Scottish.  Salmond is an effective politician, an admirable operator – but already he is showing that his instincts are illiberal, and proving the age old case which is that in opposition nationalists may be radicals and reformers, but in government they become centralist control freaks, with alarming traces of prejudice and reaction. 

 It’s questionable now whether we can really call the SNP a party of the left any more – nationalists rarely are.  For Liberal Democrats, well our identity is in the spotlight too.  We are in coalition in Westminster with the Tories and that has had a real impact on how the electorate sees us – almost irrespective of what policies we pursue!  

 But back in May 2010 we had no choice. The electoral maths meant that there simply were not enough Lib Dem and Labour MPs to form a government, but thanks to Nick’s incredible performances in the leaders debates the Tories absolutely did not get it their own way so instead of having a bunch of frightful Englishmen in the Scottish office, we have our own Mike Moore!

 And when it comes to the other opposition in Scotland – well, the Tories had the choice of radical change in their leadership election, and despite the public declaration by Murdo Fraser that they were finished if they didn’t redefine their identity, they picked a candidate with a ‘steady as she goes’ approach and for Scottish Tories that means continued irrelevance.  For Labour, their best talent opted to stay in Westminster, their second string got beaten in the May elections, and so on offer now is essentially the Labour 3^rd team – not terribly enticing. 

But despite some dreadful results for the Scottish Lib Dems in May, there has been a massive silver lining to that dark cloud – it was the election of my friend Willie Rennie, both as a Member of the Scottish Parliament and as the new Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.  Willie is comfortably the best, most tenacious and most effective opposition politician in Scotland.  He’s the right man in the right place at the right time and I am confident that he will help to reinvigorate and rebuild the Party as we face our next electoral tests, starting with the local elections in May.

I agree with Nadine Dorries. Never thought I would say that. Today Nadine Dorries at Prime Minister Questions asked this:

“Mr Speaker, the Liberal Democrats make up 8 or 7% of this parliament and yet they seem to be influencing our free school policy, health, many issues, immigration and abortion. Does the Prime Minister think it’s about time he told the Deputy Prime Minister who is the boss?”

I agree with this, though most of what Mad Nad says I completely shudder at. The Liberal Democrats in coalition and in Scotland are punching far above their weight and managing to land quite a few knock out blows. In the coalition we have put pay to Michael Gove’s idea of allowing free schools being allowed to make profits, halting the Conservatives kneejerk reactions to the riot and now we are currently battling to make sure George Osborne doesn’t give a tax cut to the rich. We are taking the edge off the Tory bite, limiting and shelving some of their more harmful ideas and it winds up the right wing Tories no end. Unlike Nadine Dorries I think this is a good thing, in fact a brilliant thing. We are not the Tories lap dog, we are the guard dog of Liberal Democracy and we better not stop.

It’s not just in the coalition we are making an impact, but also here in Scotland. Scottish Secretary recently made a speech, setting out 6 questions to the SNP, smashing through their gold plated dream of an independent Scotland and asking some pressing question on the cold hard reality of the split. Then there’s Willie Rennie and his hard working and brilliant team of MSPs.  I hope I don’t sound too biased when I say they’re all legends in their own rights. At the moment both Labour and Conservatives are fighting leadership elections, their wings clipped and their teeth blunt. The Lib Dem’s on the other hand are currently flying the flag for what a competent opposition should be. Our five MSPs are not only holding the Scottish executive to account but offering real alternatives. There is general consensus that Willie Rennie is giving Alex Salmond a thorough grilling and is gaining the reputation as the voice of reason against the SNP.

So yes take pride in the fact Nadine Dorries says we have too much influence (also do not feel sorry for gloating that her abortion amendment was shot down with a 250 majority against her proposal). Take pride in that we are fighting our corner and never apologise for influencing government policy.

The Scottish Labour Party is basically the Scottish Constituency Labour Party as opposed to a national Scottish Party. The Scottish Liberal Democrats, although being a separate Scottish party within a federal constitution are suffering from being able to show real differences and even disagreements with what is happening in Westminster. It certainly doesn’t help that there are Scottish Liberal Democrats in the cabinet. Scottish Liberal Democrats are against tuition fees? Yet Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs voted for them. It’s a hard to argue against that fact. No amount of positioning and debate can truly make Scottish Liberal Democrat polices and politicians very distinct from the federal party. The Scottish Liberal Democrats aren’t even a separate political party registered with the Electoral Commission.

The Tories, full name the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party, are in the same boat as Labour with no real distinction between the party in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Which is one of the reasons that Murdo Fraser, one of the candidates to replace Annabel Goldie as leader of the Tories in Scotland, has proposed that the Tories in Scotland disband and reform as a new Centre-Right Party.

The Tories in Scotland have never recovered from the 1997 General Election and even now have only 1 MP.  As the Scottish Liberal Democrats have found, the Scottish electorate have a tremendous hatred of the Tories. For many nationalists and socialists, the 1979-1997 Tory Government is unaccountably seen as the worst thing to happen to Scotland since the last eruption of the volcano underneath Edinburgh Castle.

There is little chance of a political party overcoming that kind of opprobrium so the idea that the Tories should disband and reform is an attractive one. However, if Murdo Fraser is elected leader and the membership of the party does vote for the idea it won’t actually make much difference in the short-term. The party will still struggle in next year’s council elections and in other elections in Scotland when it is party of the UK. A big reason for this is, like the other Unionist parties, the Tories don’t seem to be able to put forward an argument that offers an optimistic and ambitious view of Scotland within the current constitutional framework. The genius of the SNP since taking power at Holyrood as been to concentrate only on Scotland, offer a positive vision of Scotland and seek as much power for Scotland as possible.

The SNP have governed pretty competently with less scandal and ministerial upheaval than their Holyrood predecessors and those in Westminster. They have a number of competent ministers and, as a party, have stayed pretty much on message and on target for a positive (for them) referendum result.

I wonder if Murdo Fraser can see the way the wind is blowing. I wonder if he can see that there is no real positive campaign message for Scotland sticking with the current constitutional settlement.  He would never admit that of course and campaign of Scotland staying where it is, but in establishing a new Scottish centre right party he could be stealing a march on other parties for the first Scottish election campaign after the SNP win their referendum.

What would happen if Scotland said yes? How quickly would there need to be a general election for the new parliament of Scotland. For any party to govern with a mandate in a new nation there would need to be an election fairly quickly. The SNP would be in a quandary, as one of their key policies would have been met so how many members would stick with them? Should they be a low or high tax party? How many would bleed away to other parties?

What about the other two Unionist parties? The Scottish Liberal Democrats would at least be able to look to their current constitution as the basis of quickly adapting to the new political situation. It would still need ratified and approved at a conference by our members.

Scottish Labour would, arguably, be an even worse position (unless the current review adopts a similar constitutional position to the Scottish Liberal Democrats). What this means is that Murdo Fraser and his new Centre Right Scottish Party would be able to offer Scottish policies and Scottish solutions very quickly and be able to gain momentum that the other two parties would be unable to match. And if those pro-business, pro-low tax SNP members and voters leave SNP for the new party then they could become one of the bigger parties in the new independent Scotland.

Willie Rennie is in the process of establishing a Commission to investigate both Home Rule and devolving more power to local communities. I wonder if its worth also considering more independence for the Scottish Liberal Democrats as well?