stewartb
Arguably, there are some basic characteristics of the Tory opposition in Holyrood:
(i) perhaps tactically, in the Scottish Parliament it chooses to offer little in terms of alternative policies/solutions, including the NHS. IMHO the Tories are not really working towards government in Scotland because their priority is for the powers of devolved government to be further circumvented or removed by Westminster.
(ii) the Tories in Scotland have individuals, notably but not only Stephen Kerr MSP, whose prime role seems to be to denigrate and disrupt.
(iii) the Tories in Scotland rely on the mainstream media, and especially the BBC, giving them the opportunity to criticise the Scottish Government and the SNP without fear of being challenged about the track record of their Tory Party in Westminster. There are parallels here with Labour in Scotland and the Labour government in Wales.
There is a UK governance context, a UK governance perspective, relevant on most challenges facing the governments in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh – but rarely given credence in corporate media and BBC output!
(iv) ‘success’ for the Tories IMHO will be loss of public confidence in Scotland’s public services, in Scotland’s institutions including Scotland’s parliament and its processes, and of course in the present Scottish Government.
Why? Because such a loss of national confidence will work alongside and reinforce the fearmongering on which the case against Scotland’s self-determination is based. If successful, this will reduce the likelihood of majority support for independence.
The tactic? Keep this up long enough – and delay as long as possible a democratic event on Scotland’s constitution – and the ‘natural’ forces of democratic politics will, bit by bit, degrade SNP support.
The past weeks here on TuS have evidenced the high level of Unionist effort to undermine public confidence in the competence of the political parties of independence to govern Scotland.
Will we see a timely uptick in the countering reaction to all this from the SNP ? Not easy given the nature of Scotland’s corporate media and BBC Scotland I know but …..!
Talking-up Scotland 
To this description of Tory strategy, if such a respectable word can be used here, applies in equal measure to the LibDems and most of the Parliamentary Scottish Labour Party. The all operate on the same script, using the same language.
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I have always wondered when watching HR in action if the tories actually believe the nonsense they deliver week in and week out. They are supposed to be reasonably intelligent people (with the obvious exceptions) and yet the only dialogue they can muster is obviously taken straight from the Westminster handbook. I have to conclude that they can’t think for themselves. Labour are almost clones and ACH is like a clockwork toy someone has wound too tightly and let go.
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