We're making a difference, say Scottish Tories

On the eve of their annual conference Scotland's Conservative MSPs, led by Annabel Goldie, have issued a brief report - claiming to be 'making a difference' for the people of Scotland.  Their leaflet (a PDF of which is here) highlights '12 solid achievements in 12 months'.  They include:

• 1,000 extra police officers and lower business rates for smaller enterprises, as part of the price for voting for the minority SNP administration's budget;
• Supporting a freeze in council tax;
• Securing a greater emphasis on "abstinence" within Scotland's drug recovery strategy;
• A campaign to encourage public sector institutions to buy local produce for the sake of Scotland's economy and the wider environment.
• The introduction of Bills that would produce a National Register of Tartans and another, from Murdo Fraser, that would protect rural schools.

David Cameron will address the Ayr gathering tomorrow.  David Cameron has a positive approval rating of +19% in Scotland compared to Gordon Brown's negative rating of -41%.  This 'Cameron effect' has yet to boost the Scottish party's overall standing, however.  Scottish Tories are at the same opinion poll rating as last May. We're told that the party's opinion poll standing has improved!  The source for this is the SNP!  A study of four UK-wide opinion polls from May suggests Tory support in Scotland is now 21% cf 16% in 2005.  That could produce six extra Tory Westminster seats.

Alan Cochrane reviews the Scottish party's performance in The Telegraph.  He pays tribute to four MSPs, in particular: Derek Brownlee, Liz Smith, Ted Brocklebank and Alex Johnstone.  But he calls for Annabel Goldie to spend less time dealing with the Nationalists and more time battling them.  Former Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth recently expressed support for an early referendum.  He believes that the Unionist parties shouldn't be following Alex Salmond's timetable that would see Scotland vote on the Union in 2010.  He - unlike the Scottish Party and Sir Malcolm Rifikind - wants a vote next year.

PS We'd like to compile lists of the best Scottish and Welsh Tory blogs.  Please email us if you can help.

Comments

[Ulster Tory]

Don't forget the Conservatives in Northern Ireland and their blog on
www.conservativesni.com

[Ken Stevens]

Good on 'em.

Would you tell me please whether, in like manner, the English Conservative Party is 'making a difference' for the people of England.

What do you mean, there isn't an equivalent English Conservative Party?!

Oh well, par for the course, it seems, in political organisation as well as government..

[englandism.com]

In Today’s News…

‘Scottish nationalist ministers in Edinburgh have been accused of illegally trying to seize control of fish stocks after they imposed a unilateral ban on the sale of fishing quotas to non-Scottish skippers.’

‘His moratorium provoked a furious response from ministers in the UK government and from fishermen's leaders in both England and Scotland, who accused Lochhead of breaching European law and creating an artificial conflict over fishing rights to stir up a nationalist backlash.’

‘He (Richard Lochhead) wants to overhaul the current quota rules to favour Scottish-based skippers and fleets – which currently control 70% of the UK's fisheries, and implied he wants to permanently restrict access to non-Scottish trawlers.’

And the SNP apparently wants out of the EU common fisheries policy too.

http://tinyurl.com/5gt4ke

Should we not be a little bit concerned about cooperating with the SNP? Is it not time for a separate party for separatist state acting overtly against the interests of England?

Barries Deas, the chief executive of the York-based National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations, said: "This move is provocative, highly irresponsible and probably illegal,"

"There is no such thing as Scottish or English quota. There is UK quota. If the Scottish executive has any doubts over this, a brief telephone call to the European commission should allay any doubts."

We are getting a little miffed.

[Boy Blue]

Alan Cochrane is, as usual, talking tripe. He belongs to the Michael Forsyth/Gerald Warner/Iain Martin camp which thinks the way ahead for the Scottish Tories is for us to pledge to abolish the Scottish Parliament.

Current polls have us on to win 7 Westminster seats in Scotland. That's a pretty good endorsement of present strategy.

[Tim Fell]

Ken Stevens:
In answer to your question, put simply, there isn't an English Prliament.
Of couse a group of MSPs are going to talk of ther relevance within the insitution to which they are elected. This disjointed system isn't a consequence of Scotland Vs. England, but of bad Labour legslation and the inabiliy of their forward thinking.

[Ken Stevens]

Leaflet: "Buying local produce is good for the economy, public health and the environment. Our 'Buy Local, Eat Local' campaign will continue to press the minority SNP Government to take the necessary action to make it easier for public agencies to procure local produce."

Though still complying with EU rules on public body open tendering above specified financial thresholds, presumably?

With that constraint, I wonder what material impact such a policy will have, worthy though it be.

[AnotherAnon]

I read ScottishToryBoy: www.scottishtoryboy.blogspot.com Probably one of the better Scottish Tory blogs.

[Scott]

I've not seen any poll which gives Cameron a +19% approval. The most recent scottish approval ratings was on the 15th of May and they were -27% for Dave.

Englandism. - Fishing is devolved. The real question is why successive administrations in Hollyrood never lifted a finger to do anything about it in the past.

The Scottish Government don't have to care about the UK 'national' fishing industry. The nation they represent is Scotland.

As Iain MacSween, of the Scottish Fishermen's Organisation, said it was “entirely reasonable and lawful” for Scotland to define and organise its own quotas.

The SNP aren't looking for the approval of english and welsh fishermen, but to get the best outcome for the Scottish ones. Its not exactly a hidden agenda.

Tiredtory blog used to be hilarious. But its stopped now.

The tories are by far the best oppostion in the Parliament. But i dont think that actually gets votes.

[Editor]

I've corrected the paragraph on polling. Apologies for the misleading implications of my first paragraph.

[Iain]

"In answer to your question, put simply, there isn't an English Prliament. "

But haven't the Scottish Conservatives been around before there was a Scottish Parliament (devolved version)? If I'm right , whether there is an English Parliament is irrelevant to there being an English branch of the Conservative party, its just a matter of the Conservative party wanting to give English people some politrical representation, which clearly they don't!

[Boy Blue]

Scott: I've not seen any poll which gives Cameron a +19% approval. The most recent scottish approval ratings was on the 15th of May and they were -27% for Dave
-------

The Scottish sample of the YouGov poll which featured in last weekend’s Sunday Times showed 55% of respondents believing that David Cameron was doing ‘very well or fairly well’ as Conservative Leader, and 36% believing he was doing ‘fairly badly or very badly’ – a positive rating of 19%. By contrast, 69% thought Gordon Brown was doing ‘fairly badly or very badly’ and only 28% thought he was doing ‘very well or fairly well’ as Prime Minister – a negative rating of 41%.

[Iain]

"Englandism. - Fishing is devolved."

And many Scottish trawlers are plying their trade off the South coast of England. Now who would be negoating for and looking after English peoples interests and resources? Of course NOBODY!

[wtf]

The only reason there is no English Parliament is because a majority of ENGLISH MPs are against it.

The only reason we have the Barnett Formula, is because a majority of ENGLISH MPs are in favour of it.

The only reason England is a member of the EU is because a majority of ENGLISH MPs are in favour of it. The only reason we didn't have a referendum on the EU Constitution is because a majority of ENGLISH MPs were against it.

A majority of ENGLISH MPs voted for the Maastricht Treaty. A majority of Scottish MPs voted against it. Scottish MPs would never self-censor the name of their own nation in the way that English MPs refuse to even mention the word "England".

Scottish MPs would never vote to butcher Scotland into lots of little Euro-regions in the way that ENGLISH MPs and the English media are trying to Balkanise England out of existence. Simon Heffer, for example, is now saying that the South East should declare independence from the rest of England.

I suspect that, in the event of the break up of the Union, Scotland would be united, forward looking, and a low tax, dynamic economy outside of the EU. England's own elected MPs would ensure that the opportunity is taken to divide England into Euro-regions and surrender her power to the undemocratic EU.

When that happens, Scotland will welcome the likes of Ken Stevens and englandism.com warmly and with open arms.

[Tim Fell]

Ken Stevens:
What happened in the past is neither here nor there in ths respect. The reasons why there was a Scottish Consevative Party pre-1999, as a hangover from the amalgamation with the old Scottish Unionist Party, are not relevant to the constitutional set up we now have post '99.
Of couse MSPs are going to say how they have helped Scotland through their membership of the Sottish Parliament, but they also talk about the importance of the Union and Sotland's place within it and how we can make the whole country stronger through a real Britan wide Conservative revival

[Ken Stevens]

wtf | May 22, 18:00
"..When that happens, Scotland will welcome the likes of Ken Stevens and englandism.com warmly and with open arms."

Might take you up on that, if the concept of England as a national entity continues to be ill-served by the major parties. It would be nice to live in a country that believes in itself (whether within the Union or under independence)! Presumably having half-Scottish kiddies qualifies me? -- though one of them is about to emigrate to USA, having decided that he would prefer to become a citizen of somewhere more dynamic.

How did USA weld together States of vastly different sizes, whereas we're still not quite sure whether our little 300 year-old experiment is going to work or not?!

Tim Fell | May 22, 18:01
"What happened in the past is neither here nor there in this respect."

Agreed. I was referring to present & future.

[ChrisD]

"Alan Cochrane is, as usual, talking tripe. He belongs to the Michael Forsyth/Gerald Warner/Iain Martin camp which thinks the way ahead for the Scottish Tories is for us to pledge to abolish the Scottish Parliament."

I am with you there BoyBlue.
It was at the start of the election campaign last year that I noticed a new direction, strategy and motivation within the Holyrood team. Despite all the criticism, namely from some in our own party who helped keep us in the wilderness, they have stuck to their strategy and its working.
These are the best polls I can remember for a long time.
BUT, its a team effort. The party is getting it right in Westminster and Holyrood under Cameron and Goldie. Lots more work to do, namely trying to get the grassroots operation rebuilt, that's where the rest of us can do our bit to help.

[HF]

Editor, this glosses over the Scottish party's under performance in Scotland.

Last year they dropped 1 Assembly member and are now down to 13. They also only have 143 councillors which is just 12% of the overall total.

Please let us cut out the spin. They should have changed their Leader after the May 2007 moribund performance. Michael Howard resigned even after we gained 30 MPs.

[HF]

Sorry should read are "now down to 17 Assembly seats" from 18 in 2003 to 2007.

They have 13 region seats.

[TrueBlue]

Agreed, the drop in one MSP was disappointg, but it was a regional one in an area where all the focus was on Alex Salmond's constituency camaign...we kept our constituency MSPs an made great pogress in some areas- Eastwood, the Borders, perth etc. Remember it was a election where all the focus was on the SNP, d the Lib Dems and Labour also lost members.

If anyone is to blame for the poor performance, it's the Scottish regional office and organisation, not the MSPs. Let's hope a new chairman and deputy chair will sort that out

[ChrisD]

"Editor, this glosses over the Scottish party's under performance in Scotland."

HF, in case you had not noticed a lot has happened in politics over the last year throughout the UK. That is why we take such an interest in polls which give us an UPDATED snapshot of the electorate's mood.
Tim has pointed out that our polling figures have improved even in the last year.
I notice that you regularly pop up in the seats and candidate threads with equally negative and hectoring criticism, but never seem to offer support or any decent ideas that would be constructive and help encourage a debate.

I have never hid the fact that our grassroots base in Scotland suffered badly during the last 10/15 years, but now we are trying to address this and improve our operation. I have no time for people in our own party who seek to put down and demoralise others based on past performance.
The rest of us are trying to look forward and improve on the last elections, be they local, at Holyrood or in Westminster.

[Iain]

"in the way that ENGLISH MPs and the English media are trying to Balkanise England out of existence. "

Though they are supposed to be our representatives, but they aren't, they are British MP's, they don't collectively represent England or English people, if they had English people wouldn't be in the disasterous situation they find themselves in

[wtf]

Iain, if that's the case then it's up to the English people to vote them out. I would do so if I were English, but I'm not, and as a Scotsman there's not really anything I can do to help bring about an English Parliament, get rid of the Barnett Formula, or anthing else. It's up to our cousins south of the border to bring about change at the ballot box.

[ORDOVICIUS]

The best Welsh Tory blogs are Glyn Davies ('A View From Rural Wales') and Dylan Jones-Evans. The only other Tory blog worth a mention is Nick Bourne's, as Alun Cairns seems to have deleted his.

[DBX]

Congratulations on a really terrific result. Timpson seems like a top notch candidate -- exactly the kind of person to bring new people (like me) into the party and broaden the base.

The result is also exactly what Labour deserves for their campaign. To try and run an "anti toff" campaign against a local family lawyer whose parents were foster parents to dozens of children is simply ridiculous and the voters knew it. It's as though they've mistaken Dr. Barnardo for Otis Ferry.

[ORDOVICIUS]

Oops, forgot to mention David Jones MP's blog, (sorry Dave) -he'd get the bronze medal

[Jake]

I've an idea !

Why don't we have an English Conservative Party for England just like Scotland has for Scotland and Wales has for Wales ?

[ChrisD]

"Why don't we have an English Conservative Party for England just like Scotland has for Scotland and Wales has for Wales ?"

Oh grow up!

[Andrew Morrison]

"Last year they dropped 1 Assembly member and are now down to 13. They also only have 143 councillors which is just 12% of the overall total."

The party would be a member down because the speaker retired and a Conservative MSP took up the position.

21% is still not a fantastic poll rating, but the important thing to remember is that in Scotland the fight is essentially 4 ways rather than 3 ways because of the SNPs involvement. If the electorate were split between 'Pro-Union' and 'Pro-Independence', then the Tories have won 31.3% share of the Unionist vote.

Furthermore, many Scots are still shy about being Conservatives and would probably vote Tory in a secret ballot, but only after looking over their shoulder... so I'd add a couple of points to that count.

Another thing about the Scottish Conservatives is that they fight campaigns on a local basis. That is why in Berwickshire in 2007 the Tories won a 9% swing despite the national result across Scotland being nothing like that.

I'd put the actual number of seats the Tories will end up with at around 10.