The Labour leader Ed Miliband did not have a good party conference - but could David Cameron end up having a worse one?

Even as the Tory party's annual meeting was getting under way at the weekend, the Prime Minister was coping with the defection to UKIP of another of his MPs, Mark Reckless, and the resignation of minister Brooks Newmark after a tabloid sting. In the words of Mr Cameron himself, it was not the best start.

No-one knows if more Tories will follow Mr Reckless, but if his defection (the second in two months) represents an escalation of the Ukip threat, the critical question now for the Conservatives, and voters, is how Mr Cameron responds. Already, as part of his attempted riposte to the Ukip problem, the Prime Minister has focused on his promise of a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU in the hope this will shore up the English Tory vote.

However, Mr Cameron's referendum promise could have some profound consequences in Scotland. During his interventions in the Scottish referendum debate, the Prime Minister said stability was one of the great benefits of remaining in the UK. Yet he is actively proposing an in-out EU referendum that could create the same, if not greater, instability. Sir Mike Rake, the CBI Scotland president, recently rebuked the Prime Minister on this very point in the days leading up to the vote on September 18.

There are also problems for Mr Cameron if he is tempted to shift to the right on policy, particularly in Scotland. Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson had a good referendum, and is having a good conference too, but she is aware some of the support for the Yes campaign came from Scots who feel profoundly alienated from the English Tories. A lurch to the right in an attempt to keep Ukip at bay will only deepen that alienation.

The challenge now for Ms Davidson and the other Scottish leaders is how to help deliver on the promises of more devolution, and in her speech to conference she laid out some of her ideas. Ms Davidson was elected as Scottish Tory leader on a promise of no more devolution - her "line in the sand" - but, pragmatically, realistically, she has rubbed the line out and embraced more powers for Holyrood.

Indeed, Ms Davidson is now among the most ambitious of Scottish leaders, saying yesterday the Scottish parliament should be in charge of much more of the cash it spends. What she envisages is a more direct link between what is raised in Scotland and what is spent here - a more fiscally responsible parliament that can be held directly to account by voters.

Ms Davidson should be commended for her directness on the subject, sensing the way the debate in Scotland is going and embracing it. As this newspaper has argued in the last few days, only a package of measures for substantially enhanced autonomy will satisfy the aspirations of Scots, and responsibility for raising the majority of the money it spends must be central to the way forward. Ms Davidson has reiterated her support for such reform for one simple reason: the people of Scotland want change.