Jackson Carlaw’s successor and the fight to save the Union

The Scottish Conservatives are now in crisis. Jackson Carlaw has resigned six months into his leadership and less than a year on from Ruth Davidson’s departure. The party is polling 35 points behind the SNP with another Scottish Parliament election due next May and a string of polls have shown a majority of Scots are now in favour of Scexit. Carlaw accepts that he is not the man to turn this around, but it is not entirely clear who is. There are few on the Scottish Conservative benches at Holyrood capable of taking on Nicola Sturgeon. The Tories might have to look beyond the confines of the Edinburgh assembly for their next leader.

Carlaw’s leadership was credible at first. He stepped in when Ruth Davidson quit last August and served six months in an interim capacity. Although the Scottish Tories lost half their seats in the December election, it is generally agreed that they started the campaign in a much worse position.