Andrew Whitaker: Distancing themselves from Westminster colleagues will not be enough for Scottish Lib Dems

AS SCOTTISH Liberal Democrats gather for their pre-election conference in Perth today, it's hard to believe that any for a moment thought they would be preparing for a Holyrood poll while their Westminster colleagues were in a UK government.

What will the impact of this be? Many commentators say the Lib Dems, both north and south of the Border, face an electoral drubbing over their coalition deal with the Tories. The Scottish Lib Dems are in danger of being affected by the backlash against the coalition's package of cuts.

The Lib Dems in Scotland will point to the party's structure, which in theory sees the party here being autonomous and distinct from its Westminster counterpart.

But when Scottish Lib Dem members of the UK cabinet like Scottish Secretary Michael Moore and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander go on the stump in the run-up to the Holyrood election, there's a danger many anti-Tory voters will see the Lib Dems as little more than salesmen for the coalition's cuts.

This is arguably unfair on some of the Lib Dems at Holyrood, like the astute finance spokesman, Jeremy Purvis, who has probably been the most improved MSP during this parliament and who has made a name for himself with a campaign exposing excessive pay among senior executives in the public sector.

The party's leader in Scotland, Tavish Scott, has also put in a workmanlike shift since he took over from Nicol Stephen in 2008.

But Scottish Lib Dems arguably need to go further in forging a separate identity. Until now, the issue of having a distinct Scottish party has been directed mainly at the Tories, with the Conservatives seemingly forever associated with the Thatcherite policies of the 1980s and 1990s in the minds of many voters in Scotland.

Of course, distancing themselves from the party's involvement in the UK coalition would not be enough in itself for Scottish Lib Dems to win support.

The party would need to establish itself more along the lines of the model set out by Mr Purvis, as campaigners against excessive pay awards handed to executives on health boards and in local government.

Another possible niche for the Scottish Lib Dems could be that of an ever-so-slightly left-of-centre party at Holyrood, or at least liberal with a small l on issues such as tackling crime and protecting NHS spending in areas such as free prescriptions. The rightwards shift in some areas of Labour policy, particularly over law and order, has certainly left enough territory for the Scottish Lib Dems to make their own.

To make these such a leap, Mr Scott's party would need to put clear water between itself and the Lib Dem partners in the coalition. But if the party is to keep its tally of 16 MSPs at Holyrood, bold thinking could be the only thing that saves it from a bad night on 5 May.