Should the Scottish Tories join forces with the Lib Dems?

Scottish politics is stuck. As with Brexit across the wider United Kingdom, the 2014 independence referendum has permanently shifted attitudes of the majority of the population into Yes/No camps, with little room for compromise. The SNP government stumbles from one crisis of service delivery to another yet continues to consistently poll around 40 per cent. In first-past-the-post Westminster elections, this is sufficient to return a clear majority of MPs, and probably to still be returned as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament in the scheduled 2021 election.

The problem for Scotland is that the SNP believe this to be a mandate to speak “for Scotland” in broader constitutional matters, like Brexit. Fair enough, you might say. After all, only 38 per cent of Scots voted for Brexit. But those two fifths should still be represented.

The great disadvantage for the unionist voter is that the three UK-wide parties are all chasing their vote, but none of them are currently very convincing.