BREXIT was bad enough, but now Donald Trump. For liberal-minded Scots it feels as if the world has been turned upside down. People I speak to are becoming seriously worried about the future in a way I can’t recall since the days of the Cold War. And not least because of the dark presence of nuclear weapons in the Clyde.

Conservative politicians in Westminster are now vying with each other to curry favour with the most right wing President-elect in modern US history. Boris Johnson now thinks Donald Trump could be a “good thing” for Britain, and last night Theresa May endorsed Trump’s politics of immigration. Meanwhile, the spike in hate crime cannot be written off as exaggeration by a liberal media. These are dark times.

The question is, what does Scotland, this small peripheral nation, do about it? Well, at times like this the only thing to do is hang together. Scotland is in the fortunate position of having political parties which have broadly similar liberal, social democratic outlooks – even the Conservatives under Ruth Davidson are a million miles from Donald Trump (though we really need a much clearer indication from the Scottish Tory leader that she disowns the Ukipisation of the UK Conservatives as revealed at their UK conference).

There is a broad consenus on the need for Scotland to retain as close a relationship as possible with the European Union. If Scotland’s parties speak with a common voice starting in today’s debate on the single market, it would be a significant moral blow against the worst excesses of Brexit politics. The internationalism embedded in the European ideal is something upon which all parties, nationalist and unionist, agree: democracy, human rights, free trade and free movement of people. Parliament is important: Holyrood is an embodiment of the people’s will expressed in a democratic election. If it speaks with a united voice it speaks for Scotland.

The call for soft Brexit today is led by Nicola Sturgeon, but it is not a narrowly nationalist project – indeed, in some ways it could be seen as a unionist one. It’s not inconceivable that a new constitutional settlement could emerge from the chaos of Brexit, which would be short of independence, but would significantly advance the powers of the Scottish parliament.

We know about the powers that are supposed to be repatriated, like fishing and agriculture, and these must be secured for Holyrood, as well as environmental protections and employment rights. If you don’t ask you don’t get and right now is a very good time to start asking. The Scottish parliament could seek powers over VAT, rates and revenues, now that this sales tax is being repatriated, and corporation tax could be devolved too.

All of Scotland’s parties can surely agree that Scotland needs to keep its health service, universities and technology sector supported by migrant workers, whose taxes will help to finance public services in Scotland. It appears that some kind of special visa arrangement is being promoted for the City of London to ensure that finance doesn’t lose essential workers. The Scottish parliament should also seek such powers over immigration.

This is not some unionist trap – any more than devolution and the creation of the Scottish parliament was a unionist trap. Nationalists as well as unionists need to curb their tribal instincts in the best interests of Scotland, as the First Minister is doing Most of Scotland’s political leadership would surely endorse her call for “people of progressive opinion...to stand up for the values of tolerance and respect for diversity and difference”.

Some will dismiss these as politically correct cliches, and the left does perhaps need a fresher language, but these words still mean something. Instead of trying to suggest, dishonestly, that Nicola Sturgeon and Donald Trump are somehow related, those who agree with her need to express

thees values on behalf of the vast majority of the Scottish voters. Of course Labour and the SNP will never agree about independence, but all the non-Conservative parties must be seen to agree that Scotland shold be in the single market, or something very close to it.

It is not inevitable that Scotland should succumb to the politics of selfish, nativist nationalism that is consuming Westminster and Washington. Scotland’s parliament is capable of mobilising and strengthening Scotland’s civic conscience. But it needs politicians to express these values. The future may depend on the exent to which, in these very difficult times, Scotland’s parties are able to speak for the whole of Scotland and not just for for their narrow partisan clientelle.