The Liberal Democrats have always struggled to keep a foothold in the Scottish Parliament. While the national constituencies of Lothian and Fife and Highland and Grampian have stayed reliably liberal, our party was kicked out of the devolved legislature in November, and struggled in polls for half a year thereafter. By examining the faults in our strategy then, and what we did to achieve representation during the campaign period, it can tell us a lot about what we can do as a party to garner support and enthusiasm from an electorate in the future.

The most integral part of communicating a message to voters is having a focused platform as a springboard for policy. Our slogan ‘A Union of Equals’ fundamentally adhered to the principles of unionism, egalitarianism and individual liberty. This message was furthermore deeply embedded in the limited but ambitious proposals we are seeking to implement currently, with a few highlights being our pledge to make a larger range of housing available to be bought tax-free, investing in alcohol and drug treatment centres and banning microbeads in consumer products.

This was another aspect of our campaign which really managed to build trust with our voters. We didn’t pretend as if we were going to be winning a majority in the last election, and by making promises which could be retained in a coalition, we have so far seemingly kept our polling steady. I believe that this is an important attitude for any small party to take, and it is something reflected by the national leadership. If we have suffered losses, we do not throw everything at the wall in order to take it back, but we rather take slow and steady steps and attempt to engage in a relationship with the public. We have entered government now, and I can hope that this strategy will prove worthwhile as we press on with making our ideas a reality.

By /u/ka4bi