The newfound confidence of the Scottish Tories

It is difficult for Scotland’s Conservative and Unionist party to know whether to laugh or cry these days. The last few months have been dominated by the SNP’s implosion – yet the decline of Humza Yousaf’s party could ultimately backfire for the Tories. For now, though Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, has never looked happier. So what might explain his newfound positivity?

The Supreme Court’s verdict that the Scottish parliament does not have the jurisdiction to hold a legally recognised referendum on independence last November was greeted with euphoria by the Tories. It means that without a compliant Westminster government, the second independence referendum is dead. And Scottish Tories had barely finished peeling themselves off the ceiling before the bombshell resignation of Nicola Sturgeon in February re-elevated them. Things only got better for the Scottish Conservatives as they watched the fractious leadership contest unfold, and the corrosive foregrounding of the police investigation into the SNP’s finances which followed that.