Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie says that opposition to the SNP at Holyrood must be on a range of issues far broader than a narrow Tory agenda. For a start, I’d suggest, neither Tories nor SNP are known for their commitment to civil liberties. The absence of a commitment to fight the Tories’ Snoopers’ Charter in the SNP manifesto is significant. Before you say “that’s Westminster”, note that the manifesto talked a lot about Trident. It’s notable that when SNP MPs had a chance to kill off the Snoopers’ Charter a few weeks ago, they bailed.

Since the election Ruth Davidson has highlighted a limited range of issues as her priorities for the new parliament.

Willie said:

Of course the issues that the Conservatives have highlighted are important. But opposition to the SNP needs to be far wider than a narrow Tory agenda.

On issues like tax there is more that unites the Tories with the SNP than divides them. And on issues like justice they are more likely to chase cheap headlines than push for reforms which help cut offending and reduce the number of Scots who are imprisoned. On education there is no indication that they will press for the urgent investment that is required to make our schools the best again.

Scotland is an open, tolerant, liberal minded country and the Liberal Democrats will provide a strong liberal voice at Holyrood.

The election provides the Liberal Democrats in Scotland with clear space on civil liberties and on using the powers of the Parliament. The SNP has been been elected to govern in the most powerful devolved Parliament in the world. They are very timid about using those powers. It’s like giving them a run in a Ferrari that they’ll never get out of second gear. It’s up to us to present a radical, bold alternative and deliver proper opposition like we did in the last Parliament. The group with the best record at forcing policy change was the 5-strong Liberal Democrats.

The Parliament is now dominated by the two most well-funded dominant parties across the UK. They both need effective opposition. We’d better step up.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social