David Maddox: Growing unease around Holyrood election

AS DELEGATES gather for the Scottish Lib Dem conference, there must be a growing sense of unease, if not panic, about the prospects for the Holyrood election, which is just a few weeks away, writes David Maddox.

In all those barren years out of government, the thing that chirped up the party faithful was their ability to do well in by-elections. But surprise by-election victories are rarely, if ever, the preserve of a party of government, and the Lib Dems are finding they are now the target of electoral anger over government policy. It is a very uncomfortable place for them to be.

But Nick Clegg and senior party figures at Westminster make no bones about their strategy, which is to play a five-year game. They have accepted short-term political failure but believe that, come the general election, they will be rewarded for "doing the right thing" for the country.

The problem for Tavish Scott, pictured, and the Scottish Lib Dems, though, is this means they are, in effect, part of the short-term sacrifice. Polls appear to suggest that, on a very bad day, they could lose seven of their 16 Holyrood seats.