David Mundell MP: I cannot support winding up the Scottish Conservatives and I'm endorsing Ruth Davidson

By David Mundell MP.

Politics in Scotland is never dull, and that is particularly true for Scottish Conservative politics. The future of our party will be debated at the party conference starting today in Manchester and, no less vigorously, at leadership hustings throughout Scotland in the coming weeks.

The central thrust of this four-candidate contest can rightly be characterised as being about real change.  I don’t think anyone within or outside our party in Scotland would disagree with the statement that the party must change, and in particular, we must attract more people to vote for us across Scotland as a whole.

We must be clearly identifiable as the choice for those who want to vote for a sensible centre-right party of the sort that exists - and commands support - in virtually every other European country.

In so doing, we must be able to demonstrate that we are relevant and make a difference to the lives of people in Scotland if they vote for us at council, Scottish Parliament, Westminster and European elections.  That is why I want to see the leadership election focus on policy, leadership qualities and on the campaigning style our party will have in Scotland to take us forward.

However, I want to make clear my view that any change that takes place must be in the context of the existing Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

I cannot support the disbanding of our party and setting up a new one.  Not least it is a betrayal of our stalwart members and activists and the 420,000 people who voted Conservative at the UK General Election. Those people who, whether or not, they directly elect members of Parliament, want to contribute to the formation of a UK Conservative Government.

David Mundell MP: Strengthening devolution and answering the West Lothian Question will safeguard the Union for future generations

David Mundell MP is Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and was one of the speakers at yesterday's Reform seminar in Westminster on the future of the UK constitution.

Events like the Reform seminar held in London yesterday help expose Scottish politics to a wider audience. Parts of the national media, including ConservativeHome, are also good at this. It is something that is immensely important.

People elsewhere in the UK are interested to hear about developments in Scotland, as one would expect in a political, cultural and social Union. Equally, the Scottish political debate is better when it does not occur in a vacuum. There are constitutional lessons for Scotland to learn from the Welsh and Northern Irish experiences of devolution and policy lessons from the successes and failures of the reforms introduced by England-only Departments in Whitehall.

There needs also to be an appreciation that many issues being debated separately in Scotland and England are actually interdependent. Just like many Scots wanted a Scottish Parliament set up, many English want the West Lothian Question answered. Just like many Scots want the Barnett Formula reformed to allow the Scottish Parliament to have new, tax-raising powers, people in some parts of England and Wales think it needs to be reformed to meet the needs of their region.

Unfortunately, though, people elsewhere in the UK sometimes get the impression that, as was said of the Bourbons, Scottish politicians have “learned nothing and forgotten nothing”. The London media can see Scottish politicians having the same old arguments about national identity and “Scotland’s oil”  and dismiss Scottish politics as being a bit like Fight Club. If “what happens in Fight Club stays in Fight Club”, they think that what happens in Scottish politics should stay in Scottish politics.

However, I believe that Scotland’s politicians have learned a lot in the decade since devolution and that the debate in Scotland is beginning to mature and change for the better. There are three major changes that have occurred and those affect how I view the work of the Calman review of devolution – the big issue in Scottish politics in recent months.

David Mundell: Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland

David is Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland

As the only Conservative MP in Scotland (not the only Conservative as I am sometimes introduced!), I would require to be multifunctional whether or not I was Shadow Secretary of State! David Cameron reinstated the role to the Shadow Cabinet to ensure that the Scottish perspective was part of its deliberations and I hope that I achieve that.

Obviously there are distinctly Scottish interests which need to be taken into account on reserved matters such as the taxation of the oil industry as well as the staple Scottish issues which include the Barnett formula (we have no plans to change it) or the West Lothian Question (which is currently being looked at by Ken Clarke’s Democracy Task Force), but there is also a need to have an awareness of the devolution settlement and its impact on decision making for the rest of the UK.