Willie Rennie’s resignation — announced, as only he could, via a self-shot video while climbing Benarty Hill in western Fife — means there’s now a vacancy at the top of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Given the party holds just four seats at Holyrood and four at Westminster, the summit of Benarty enjoys a more elevated position than the Lib Dem leadership. But can Rennie’s replacement have any more luck in reviving the party’s fortunes?
The party was in government at Holyrood from 1999 to 2007 as Scottish Labour’s junior partner but Nick Clegg’s coalition with David Cameron, the rise of the SNP and the political realignment brought about by the 2014 independence referendum all did for the Lib Dems’ fortunes. Rennie was unable to turn things around but lasted in the job for so long by becoming a prescient and persistent critic of the SNP’s failings.
The field to succeed him is narrow under the party’s rules, which only allow Members of the Scottish Parliament to stand.
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