It'll take more than PR to make Scots trust Tories

DAVID CAMERON scored quite a publicity coup on his first visit to Scotland since being elected the new leader of the Tory Party.

He cheekily billed his meeting with First Minister Jack McConnell on Tuesday as a discussion of future relations in the event of a Conservative government at Westminster.

He described the meeting as "friendly" and claimed it had established "an understanding between the two of us" about the need for protocols in such an event.

Having agreed to the meeting for fear of being accused of a snub, Mr McConnell's advisers wisely insisted the content of the conversation should remain private. But the very fact such a meeting took place was notched up as a success by Tory organisers and seems to have caused some consternation in Labour circles down south.

Labour sources insist they are not contemplating a Cameron victory and they allowed Tuesday's meeting out of courtesy. But they may now regret allowing any credibility to be attached to Mr Cameron's ambitions of ousting Labour at the next UK general election.

There is no doubt governments of different colours at Westminster and Holyrood would change the dynamics of devolution dramatically and could spark all kinds of tensions.

But one senior Labour insider argues that as devolution matures, the issue of who is in Number Ten will become less and less crucial - even if it is the Tories.

"If they were in power in the UK, it would bring into sharper focus what has happened in the last ten years - and the Tories might get a bit of a shock. People don't understand how deeply devolution has affected Scotland and Scottish self-confidence. You could never have another poll tax, for example. If a Tory leader came in and tried to impose something equivalent to that, Scots would laugh at them."

It's still not clear exactly what Mr Cameron would have in mind for Scotland if he were to become Prime Minister.

But the new leader appears genuinely relaxed about the Scottish Tories deciding their own line. "We all share the same principles and so we are likely to end up with a lot of the same policies, but devolution in heart as well as in head means they can respond to circumstances as they see them," he says.

BUT he admits to having "doubts" about full fiscal autonomy - ie responsibility for all taxes - which people like Murdo Fraser would like to see. Mr Cameron says, in the first instance, that policy too should be a matter for the Scottish party. But since it would be an issue on which Westminster had to legislate, he would retain an effective veto.

He has signalled his seriousness about Scotland by ensuring David Mundell as shadow Scottish secretary has a full place in the shadow cabinet. And he says Scottish issues will be discussed by the shadow cabinet in Westminster and relations with the Scottish Tory group of MSPs will be strong. But the question remains whether Mr Cameron will help win the party more votes in Scotland.

He rashly spoke of "radically increasing" the number of Tory MSPs at the 2007 elections, despite there being little sign that is likely to happen.

And the suspicion remains that while his Blair-like appeal could win back many former Tory voters in Middle England, Mr Cameron's posh accent and Etonian background will not help persuade disillusioned Scots to put their trust in the Tories.