Scottish Tories

Bill Jamieson has much to say about the sad state of the Scottish Conservatives. In today's Scotsman, he writes:

On the economy, there has been no cutting Conservative attack on the arrival of formal recession, still less a coherent set of policies and proposals to create a better climate for business formation and growth in Scotland.

Instead of a robust Tory critique of the Scottish economy we find that:

All the opposition running has been made by Andrew Wilson, the economy spokesman for the SNP. In combination with Jim Mather at Business for Scotland, he is at least putting up a credible alternative and a platform for business support.

Over on Business AM (registration required), we read:

A small but growing band of Tories, mainly free-market thinkers from the Tuesday group, are seeking to convince their colleagues of the need for full tax powers.

The (Tory) MSPs Brian Monteith and Murdo Fraser are leading members and both favour a Scotland of low business and consumer taxes.

Business AM goes on to say that Andrew Wilson of the SNP has tried to get the Tories to join him in a cross-party low tax campaign but without success so far. There is a gap in the political market in Scotland for a low tax party. The Tories should note Jamieson's last paragraph:

Without change, and change soon, these questions will resolve themselves into a single fundamental one - wanted on the Right: a new party.