What’s in a name?

The purpose of a political party is twofold: to represent the people who most closely buy in to its ethos and resulting policies, and to be elected to implement those policies.

Most would agree the Scottish Conservative Party’s ethos and policies represent a fair portion of the Scottish electorate but that it is not reflected in the number of votes it receives, so election is a distant dream.

The issue therefore must clearly be the branding, if, in business terms, the people want the product but don’t like to buy it from a certain company because of its image.

If Scotland becomes independent then the Scottish Conservative Party will almost certainly need to change its name.

If Scotland remains part of the UK then I suspect it will become increasingly devolved from the UK. The Scottish Conservative Party should become equally devolved from the British Conservative Party.

Whatever the outcome of the referendum, the Scottish Conservative Party should act and relaunch itself under another more palatable name after the referendum.

Hugh Craigie Halkett

Claremont Crescent

Edinburgh