The 2011 Scottish Conservative Party Leadership Election: Dilemmas for Statewide Parties in Regional Contexts

‘We Can’t Afford to be a Branch Office’: The Territorial Dynamics of the British Labour Party, 2015–2019

“…Proposals for separation, made in the context of contentious debates over Brexit and the Scottish party's precipitous decline, echoed debates that had emerged previously within the Conservative party. In 2011, leadership contender Murdo Fraser proposed the formation of an entirely new, centre-right entity, breaking free from the British This stemmed in part from the distinctive history of the Conservatives in Scotland, where they had operated as a separate political organisation until 1966 and have a greater degree of autonomy over policy and selections than their Labour counterparts (Convery, 2014). Scottish Labour's relationship with the UK party was, as Hassan and Shaw (2019) have documented, much more integrated within, and subordinate to, the UK party.…”

The 2016 Scottish Parliament election: a nationalist minority, a Conservative comeback and a Labour collapse

“…Additionally, the party advocated some rather more divisive pledges -support for fracking, a 'graduate contribution' for university graduates and a tapered introduction of prescription charges. Since the onset of devolution, the Scottish Conservatives have struggled to completely detoxify the party's 'anti-Scottish' image (Convery, 2014). The 2016 election campaign, however, cleverly focused on Ruth Davidson as opposed to the Scottish Conservatives, capitalising on her popularity among the electorate and avoiding the branding problem which continues to haunt the party.…”

The Scottish Parliament Election 2016: Another Momentous Event but Dull Campaign

“…Its manifesto presents three remarkably simple messages: we have a strong and charismatic leader, we represent the party that will oppose most strongly a second referendum on independence (and you should too, because we now have a 'powerhouse Parliament'), and we will provide the strongest opposition to the SNP. Indeed, many of its campaign materials emphasised Ruth Davidson's leadership without mentioning the party's name at all, in part to address the low value of the Conservative brand in Scotland without becoming a separate Scottish party (see Convery, 2012).…”