Scots Tories in U-turn on coalition

THE Conservative Party in Scotland is set to perform a major policy U-turn and go into the Scottish election offering to form a coalition to get into government at Holyrood.

• Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie Pic: PA

Scotland on Sunday understands Scottish Tories are prepared to talk with the other major Scottish parties in an attempt to gain power next year, with Alex Salmond's Scottish National Party emerging as their favoured partner.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has signalled he would also consider entering a cross-party coalition at the Scottish Parliament, though he would prefer to lead a minority administration if he fails to win outright in May.

The dramatic shift in the Tories' policy comes on the eve of their national conference in Birmingham and as they prepare for major structural change that will see the Scottish party distance itself from London and get the power to elect its own leader, in sole charge north of the Border, instead of answerable to Prime Minister David Cameron.

In the 2007 election, the Conservatives ruled out a deal with the SNP, because they could not support Salmond's plans for an independence referendum. The Conservatives consigned themselves to a term in opposition, because a deal with Labour was seen as politically unacceptable.

With Cameron in partnership with the Liberal Democrats in London, senior Scottish Tories now believe Annabel Goldie must be prepared to talk seriously with her opponents – radically altering the Scottish political dynamic.

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"That is the way we are thinking," one senior Tory said yesterday. "With the party in a coalition at Westminster, we would look daft ruling out coalitions here. In 2007 it was difficult to see us as a realistic coalition party. But nothing is ruled out now. The question is whether we coalesce with Labour or the SNP.

"A coalition with Labour would be extremely difficult, given the situation at Westminster. The SNP is difficult because of the constitutional issue. But if the constitutional issue could be parked and you ask 'are there areas of common ground?' The answer is yes. It would be difficult but possible. It is not inconceivable." Last month, First Minister Salmond abandoned plans to hold an independence referendum in this Holyrood term.

Tories argue that since 2007 they have worked with his minority SNP government to deliver more police officers, cuts in business rates, a new national drugs strategy and their Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

The change in approach is supported by leading Scottish Tories including Richard Cook, former Scottish Tory vice-chairman and candidate for East Renfrewshire.

Cook said: "Much of the electorate were bemused by our 2007 campaign, which when you broke down our rhetoric was essentially 'vote for us and we'll never be in government'...The narrative this time must be that 'vote for us and we're prepared to go into coalition government'."

But the chances of bringing off any such deal would be hampered by the Tories' toxic reputation in Scotland, which saw them fail to make any progress here at the general election. The party is attempting to tackle that by overhauling its structure to give the Scottish leader more power.

The review of the Scottish party's structure, led by Lord Sanderson of Bowden, will report at the end of the month.

Such a move is supported by most UK members. A survey of 1,727 of them conducted by ConservativeHome found 58 per cent believed the Scottish party should become "more Scottish" with its "own directly-elected leader".

Many Conservatives are unhappy about the confusion surrounding the leadership in Scotland. Goldie is leader of the MSP group at Holyrood, but Cameron is still overall leader of the party in Scotland. The picture is complicated by the fact that in Scotland there is also the party chairman, Andrew Fulton, and David Mundell, the Westminster leader.

"We need to have a single leader in Scotland," the senior Conservative source said. "As a party, we would become more autonomous."

The SNP has consistently ruled out going into government with Goldie's party. A deal with the Lib Dems at Holyrood would not result in enough MSPs to command a majority.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray would not rule out such a deal: "If we don't have a majority then we have to look at the arithmetic and possibly, of course, at a minority administration."