Can Stephen wave goodbye to anonymity?

IT'S just after 9am on an overcast Edinburgh morning and several Scottish Liberal Democrat aides, a driver, two journalists, a photographer, and several gallons of coffee are sitting patiently on a black and yellow bus bearing the windscreen legend "www.nicolstephen.org.uk".

In fact, the only thing missing is Mr Stephen himself, for whom we must wait another ten minutes (a gossipy Tavish Scott, Lib Dem campaign manager, ably fills the airtime) and who arrives a tad flustered, clutching a Starbucks coffee and a banana, dispensing "hellos" all round before disappearing into the bus's inner sanctum and pulling a discreet dividing door behind him.

While he is gone then, there is time to contemplate the question asked by many a Scottish voter over the last few months. Namely, Nicol who? It is a common joke regarding the man who became leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Deputy First Minister in June 2005, and yet remains the least known of the major party leaders. It is one that has perhaps been exacerbated by embarrassing snafus, such as the recent radio phone-in where two callers believed they were talking to a "Mr Stephenson".

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Clearly, it is an issue the Lib Dems are keen to resolve. In addition to the bus's windscreen sticker (not Nicol 'n' Tavish?), there are reminders of Mr Stephen's website on each side of the vehicle, while on the back is a huge, table tennis table-sized poster of the man himself, waving presidentially, below the, by now, not-entirely-unpredictable words, "Nicol Stephen".

If all that is not enough to imprint the man on the mind, there are no fewer than 22 pictures of Mr Stephen in the glossy election manifesto (windswept Nicol on a boat, confused looking Nicol on a bus, serious Nicol chatting to Ming, doting dad Nicol with the kids, and so on), while the party political broadcast looks more like a trailer for Nicol Stephen: The Movie.

It's all a bit Tony Blair, circa 1994, and not terribly liberal. So when we do finally sit down to chat, it seems not entirely unreasonable to ask him about it.

"It's deliberate because I need to build my profile," he says, with honest frankness and an alarmingly toothy smile. "It's the first election campaign I have been involved with as party leader.

"I've got to build my profile to compete with the other leaders who've been around for many years and all of whom, apart from Annabel [Goldie], have been involved in campaigns as leaders before."

And as a Liberal, does he really feel comfortable about that?

"Well, it's modern politics, and people want to know more about the leader. It's important that you have the best profile in the campaign. People make up their minds on a variety of issues. They want to know about you as well and what makes you tick, as well as about your policies."

Ah, the policies. Amid all the Nicol-love - and he certainly is charming, with an easy manner and a sleeves-rolled-up attitude - it could be easy to forget about them, but they're there all right, in the eyewatering 41,000 words of text that make up the manifesto. It's yet another department that, in that traditionally liberal way, has all got a bit woolly in the eyes of the voters.

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Indeed, it has been suggested that the Lib Dems have more in common with the SNP than with Labour - they have similar stances on no nuclear power stations, abolishing council tax in favour of local income tax and fiscal autonomy.

"The Liberal Democrats have differences from all the other parties," he asserts. "One of the big differences with the SNP is that they came out quite clearly against renewable energy, against wind-farm developments. We talk about a renewables revolution, and will deliver a renewables revolution."

They support a cut in business rates. "With more economic powers, you could create the sort of pro-business and pro-economy environment," he says.

"Northern Ireland has been lobbying hard for devolved corporation tax powers to be able to compete with Eire. The opportunity to create a lower corporation tax environment in Scotland could kick-start our economy."

He has ruled out a referendum on more powers for the Scottish Parliament, saying the way ahead is a constitutional convention. He also throws down a challenge to the SNP to become more like a "European nationalist party", dropping its commitment to independence to join other parties in government.

Asked if his party is in favour of a referendum on more powers for Holyrood, he says: "We don't believe it is the best way to get more powers.

"We believe what works is what worked in the 1990s, which is a consensus of cross-party co-operation along with business and civic society to deliver an agreement on the issue of more powers for the parliament."

He talks of this as "the Donald Dewar approach to devolution", treating it as "a developing process" rather than a one-off event.

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"We believe that the parties working with business and civic society in Scotland - moving devolution along - is the best way forward and we don't believe a referendum would be necessary if we could reach that cross-party, cross-Scotland consensus on the development of new powers for the parliament," he says. "The Liberal Democrats say 'no' to independence and 'no' to a referendum on independence. It's a clear and simple policy."

So, is that "no" to a coalition deal that would include an independence referendum? "Exactly," he says. "We do not support a referendum, and I can't think of any party, any government, that has supported a referendum on an issue that it doesn't believe in."

So, what does he think will happen on 3 May, and how will the Liberal Democrats cope with what does? "It's very, very likely that all parties will be a minority," he says. "That's why this notion the SNP has of winning an election ... there are no winners, unless you can form a majority administration. So people have to work together, seek compromise, seek consensus if there is going to be a stable government. We're happy to do that.

"The general principle that we have used in the past is, if we were to be one of the smaller minorities, we would speak first to the larger party. The change that we made in our constitution wasn't to shift away from that policy, but it was to say that we want to be more ambitious for the party in future and we do want to be the single largest party."

Ambition certainly figures highly on Mr Stephen's radar. He talks of "inspiring young people", of "building on the real excellence of our quality of life" of "building a brighter future", and of being an Aberdeen boy with a "passion, excitement and a belief in Scotland".

He's good looking in a gentle, non-threatening sort of a way, with pale orange hair of party colours, slowly giving way to a salting of grey. He looks like he might have been hatched out of a Lib Dem processing plant.

He claims to be a fan of Green Day and the Killers, although whether he can tell the difference between the two is debatable, and the iPods in the Stephen household are clearly the youngsters' department. Married to Caris and with four children - Drummond, three, Mharni, five, Mirrhyn, ten, and Macleod, 11 - he is very much a family man, with any spare time devoted to playing golf (he admits Jack McConnell is a "slightly better" player than him).

Trip over, the bus dispenses us in Glasgow's George Square and heads off to Kirkintilloch, the next stop on the Nicol Stephen roadshow. As it pulls away, we are confronted with that huge poster of a waving Mr Stephen disappearing into the distance. But whether he is waving hello or goodbye, it is almost impossible to tell.

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CLIMATE CHANGE, INDEPENDENCE AND HEALTH: NICOL STEPHEN'S ANSWERS TO READERS' QUESTIONS

Q: Why should we beat ourselves about the head over global warming while other countries do nothing on this issue, given that we account for only 2 per cent of global emissions and that other climatic factors may well be more important?

Keith Farquharson, Inverness

A: "We've got to lead by example. If we are going to convince these emerging nations that climate change is important - probably the biggest issue facing the future of our planet - we've got to reduce our carbon emissions. It is a great economic opportunity if we can export those skills through developing new approaches to renewable energy, new wave and tidal technology."

Q: Given time, is there any reason why an independent Scotland could not emulate the success and prosperity enjoyed by other small nations in western Europe?

Jim Carson, Balerno.

A: "There are question marks about the funding of an independent Scotland and the dependence on oil to fill the funding gap. I don't use the economic argument as the reason why I'm opposed to independence. I believe in decentralising power, but I also believe in increasing global interdependence. Independence is not the priority for Scotland's future."

Q: What are your plans for the mental health services?

Val Knox

A: "Too often, mental health services are the Cinderella of the NHS. You do need to invest more in mental health services."

Q: Every week in Scotland nearly 50 people die as a result of alcohol addiction. What are your plans for well-funded and properly managed treatment and rehabilitation services across the country?

Richard West, Dunblane.

A: "We would invest more in rehabilitation and support services. We plan to double from 30 million to 60 million each year money spent on rehabilitation and treatment services for drugs and alcohol. There should not be these cut-price promotions in our supermarkets."

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Q: What is your policy in relation to coastal erosion and coastal defences?

Gordon Macdonald, North Berwick

A: "Proper strategies for dealing with this and investing in flood prevention and erosion prevention schemes are needed.

"People want their homes to be protected and that is why collectively across all the nations, we have got to work together on this issue."

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