The Scottish opposition parties think they have Salmond on the run. There he is, scurrying into a corner, pursued by "equivalent" policemen and corrupt dictators waving dodgy ballot papers. See, we told you the Nats couldn't be trusted. When Alex isn't picking fights with London, he's trying to wriggle out of his manifesto pledges. The honeymoon is over. Well, not quite. There has been an air of desperation about the opposition parties' attempts to expose Salmond's feet of clay. Certainly, there was ambiguity about the SNP manifesto pledge to put 1000 "new" police on the streets. However, if the Nationalists succeed in getting 1000 more cops out of their offices and on to the beat, I doubt people will be too bothered. The Nationalists are certainly not blameless in the electoral jiggery-pokery that led to the voting-paper debacle of May's election - as I examine elsewhere - but the ultimate responsibility must lie with the Labour ministers in charge of the election planning. And as for the SNP giving comfort to dictators, as alleged at question time, the LibDems will have to do better than that. The fact that the first minister has written to the 189 signatories of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty over Trident does not imply any kind of support for the oppressive regimes of Burma or Zimbabwe. It is the opposition parties' duty to oppose, but they can't afford to waste time on debating points. The SNP government will not be destroyed by quibbles about redeployed policemen or guilt by association. It is the party's performance in office, political self-confidence, and the language of optimism it has introduced into public affairs that is the source of its strength. The unprecedented level of popularity enjoyed by this administration is a result of the transformation it has wrought in political expectations in Scotland. In the past five months, people have begun to believe Scotland really could change for the better. Perhaps they'll be disillusioned - but the voters aren't going to turn readily to parties who only seem interested in treading on their dreams. Personally, I don't agree with many of the SNP's policies, such as the abolition of bridge tolls, a local income tax, building more roads, encouraging faith schools. I'm not even a nationalist. However, I admire their resolution; the radical and thoughtful way they've governed. The national conversation; the broadcasting commission; the intelligent support for the arts; the commitment to rebalancing the state. This is the real deal. And it is surely to Labour's shame that it has been left to the SNP to rediscover the popularity of essentially social democratic policies, like ending prescription charges, free school meals, opposing Trident, reviewing PFI, abolishing the graduate endowment, curbing right-to-buy. These are all things Labour always wanted to do, but didn't because they were too loyal to Westminster. When David Cairns accused the SNP of being part of the "loony left" last week, the MP not only showed an astonishing lack of irony, he revealed how little he understands his own party. Much of the frustration that has robbed Labour MSPs of their humour since May is because they know most Labour voters agree with what the SNP are doing. Yet still they have to oppose. They have to argue about lost jobs when their party wants to lose Trident; have to carp about broken promises on class sizes and student debt that their own people wish they had made. How many Labour activists really support council house sales, or privatisation, or hospital closures, or any of the policies Labour MSPs have had to defend by default? This is why Labour attacks on the SNP sound so artificial. Most Labour people I know loathe seeing Gordon Brown cut inheritance tax, refuse to rule out British support for an invasion of Iran, spend his weekends at Chequers with Rupert Murdoch and Alan Greenspan. They'd hoped Gordon would return to a more recognisably Labour agenda, but it is as if he has decided not only to bury Labour egalitarianism, but to dance on its grave. The SNP aren't even a socialist party, and yet they have given hope to many lifelong Labour supporters that politics can be different. Scottish Labour leaders, of course, say the Nats are only pursuing egalitarian policies to further the independence cause, to pick fights with London. But that misses the point, which is that these policies are vote-winners. Nationalists don't have any philosophical commitment to social democracy, but they see that the Scottish people do. Anyway, nothing the SNP have done so far has breached the terms of the devolution settlement, and the arguments they have had with London have been the right ones; foot-and-mouth compensation, al-Megrahi, the BBC impoverishing Scotland's broadcasting. Labour and the LibDems could have done what the SNP have if they'd had the will. Now they are left hoping the Nationalists' failure will retrospectively justify their own lack of imagination. The reckoning will come, of course, over next month's budget. That's when the opposition hope the SNP will be brought down to earth with a bump, now Gordon has pulled the financial rug out, and Scotland will return to the politics of disillusion and decline. How they'll laugh as Salmond is forced to eat his manifesto, clause by clause. Yah-hah - see, they're just as useless as us! Let's wait and see. I suspect the voters will watch how Salmond copes with the financial situation before withdrawing support. Promises will be broken, but there is mitigation. This is the tightest settlement imposed on Scotland since devolution, and not even Arthur Midwinter disputes that. In 2003/4 the Scottish Executive received 11.5% above inflation; next year it will be getting 0.5%, rising to an average of 1.8%. The Treasury may come to regret this parsimony at a time when Scottish oil, at $90 a barrel, is pouring cash into the Exchequer. In the end, voters may be more tolerant of an SNP administration that tries and fails than of a Labour administration that celebrates its own mediocrity and cramped ambition. Having been given a hint of how things could be, they are not going to be herded willingly back into the same old political fold. Scots are idealists, often in the face of insuperable odds. But they don't give up easily, and they may not be ready to give up on the Nationalists. The honeymoon may be over, but the relationship isn't.
