There are two theories about the fate of the many Tory voters who used to roam freely across the plains of Scotland. The most common theory also happens to be the least persuasive: that during the last Major government, they had a Damascene conversion and chose to turn their backs on the evils of unbridled …

Away from the single-issue pressure-group politics of the SNP’s referendum, the Scottish parliament is trying to continue with the matters which impact on people’s day-to-day lives. Public sector procurement is an unlikely bread and butter issue but it presents an opportunity for progressives in Scotland to make positive impact on the income and lives of …

Labour in Scotland has a vested interest in Labour starting to win in the south. The outcome of the 2014 separation referendum could turn in large part on the perception of how well Labour is doing in the south and therefore the likelihood of a Labour government in 2015. In the language of Scottish politics, …

The Olympic Games gave an interesting backdrop to the start of the Better Together ground campaign, with Saturday marking the first campaigning weekend. From Alex Salmond’s ‘Scolympians’ to Mo Farah – the temptation for politicos to muse on the Olympic impact on the referendum debate proved too great. As the #bettertogether hashtag zipped across Twitter …

Every election campaign is a learning process. Some lessons are enjoyable and some are hard to take. Labour’s result in Glasgow, and indeed across Scotland, on 3 May is firmly in the enjoyable category as we began to put into action some of the lessons we learned from our painful defeat of 2011. As a …

I had planned to begin this article with the words, ‘We have a new leader’, but as I typed I realised that it would be more accurate to write, ‘We have a leader’. Johann Lamont has been elected, with 51 per cent of the vote in a three-way contest, as the first leader of the …

The Scottish Labour party remains in flux. The way forward is coming into focus, but we need to face up to and address the fundamental issues to move forward as a healthy party, fit to govern. Last weekend, proposals from the Review of the Party in Scotland were agreed by the Scottish Executive Committee. The …