In electing Ruth Davidson as leader, at the age of 32 and with only six months' experience as an MSP, Scottish Conservatives recognised the need for a new broom to revitalise the party.
In focusing on the economy in her first policy speech as leader, Ms Davidson chose the issue that dwarfs all others but the one over which power largely remains at Westminster. How far the fiscal powers of the Scottish Parliament should be extended is the major area of contention between the parties at Holyrood and a crucial question for the Tories as the most staunchly Unionist party. The new leader, however, did nothing to clarify the Conservatives' position yesterday.
Instead she endorsed the general party philosophy of reducing the role of the state and championing the growth of the private sector as providing opportunities for individuals. In declaring the purpose of the party she leads is "to decisively shift the balance of power from the hands of politicians into the hands of people and local communities," it was not clear whether she had in mind reducing the powers of politicians at Westminster, Holyrood and council chambers or devolving some powers from the Scottish Parliament to local authorities.
Ms Davidson clearly recognises that to reverse the long decline in Tory fortunes in Scotland, she must appeal to voters who supported the SNP in May. Her claim that decades of socialism have dampened Scots' natural capacity for enterprise and hard work, but that the flame still burns, will resonate with many struggling to keep small and medium-sized businesses profitable.
Her identification of the lack of a clear message as the Scottish Tories' main failing should be reinforced by the latest UK poll on voting intentions. As the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg arrives in Scotland today, it shows that only 33% of those who voted LibDem in the 2010 General Election would do so again and prompted an admission by Mr Clegg that his party needs to constantly explain the difference they are making in the Coalition Government. Similarly the Conservatives in Scotland failed to translate into votes the significant policy concessions they secured from the previous SNP minority administration.
Ms Davidson took a leaf from the First Minister's book of rhetoric, extolling Scotland as the land that gave Adam Smith to the world and the Scots as "a resourceful people, responsible for many of the world's greatest inventions". Imitation, in this case, was an acknowledgment of the powerful clarity of Alex Salmond's message and a measure of the size of the task facing the Conservatives if they are to counter in equally compelling manner. There was, however, only one reference to Mr Salmond by name, in the claim that if he had "succeeded in tearing Scotland out of the UK, our economy would have been buffeted and destabilised just as the economies of so many other small nations have been". This was part of an attack on SNP, Labour and Liberal Democrat support for joining the euro but, in failing to acknowledge the role of then Chancellor Gordon Brown in keeping the UK out of the euro, it risked becoming an own goal.
Nevertheless, Ms Davidson has taken on a task that would daunt many a stout heart and her intention to revitalise thinking by engaging with views beyond the membership is to be applauded. Now that the SNP has demonstrated it is possible to have a majority Government in power at Holyrood, it is in the interests of the country as a whole that all the opposition parties are strong in conveying their individual policies.
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