Scottish Conservatives' tax and devolution jouney

The Tory party in Scotland has "been on a journey" over its attitude to more devolution of powers to the Scottish parliament.

That is the view of one very well placed senior source I spoke to at the ScottishTory conference in Edinburgh this weekend.

Now while the "been on a journey" line has been used in so many contexts it has become something of a cliché, it does seem to be true of the ScottishConservatives.

In the run up to the 1997 devolution referendum the remaining rump of the TartanTories - they had been wiped out in the general election - urged Scots to vote no the idea of establishing a devolved parliament and no to it having tax levying powers.

Once the parliament was set up, the Tories benefitted from the proportional electoral system they had opposed, regaining a foothold in Scottish politics.But they remained reluctant devolutionists.

Even until very recently that view was held by many at the top of the Tory party.

When she stood for the election as leader of the Scottish Tories in September 2011 -an election she won - Ruth Davidson said this: "The Scotland Bill currently going through Westminster is the line in the sand.

"The time for arguing about the powers the people want is over. It’s time now to use the powers that we have."

The Scotland Bill, which became an Act, will give Holyrood the power over 10p worth of income taxes.

If Holyrood wants to spend more money it will have to justify the spending to the Scottish electorate.

One might have thought that this idea - and an extension of it - would naturally appeal to Tories. It makes Holyrood politicians more accountable for what they spend.

If the Tories want to make the case for tax cuts, which they do, a Scottish parliament with substantial tax powers would be an ideal vehicle to make such a case.

But up until now Scottish Tories, with the exception of some like MSP Murdo Fraser - who was defeated by Ms Davidson in the leadership race - have seen more powers as a move towards independence.

Now, however, senior Tories, including Ms Davidson, have "made the journey" and seem ready to embrace the idea of giving Holyrood more powers.

The signal on this came in the speech to the Scottish Tories conference by the Prime Minister.

In my interview with him after that I pressed him on what taxes the Commission set up under Tory grandee Lord Strathclyde would recommend. You can see it here.

Mr Cameron did not answer the question but said he backed the principle of more powers.

What might be on the list? VAT cannot be devolved under European rules. It is unlikely the Tories will devolve corporation tax as that could mean two different levels of business taxation north and south of the Border.

So that brings us back to devolution of more income tax powers when the Strathclyde report is unveiled in May.

Along with that it is likely the Tories will argue for devolving power down from Holyrood to local councils or, perhaps more likely, local communities or institutions - schools for example.

Where once the Tory leadership would be worried that such radical plans, they are now confident the party activists and politicians will, with some exceptions, go along with the idea.

Even the doubters, senior Tories say, will raise their objections when the report it published, and then get their heads down and say no more. We shall see.

But it is now clear that a majority of Conservatives accept that if they want to enhance their chances of defeating the SNP's plans for independence they - like the other Unionist parties - need to be able to offer the Scottish people an alternative.