THE Tories are back in Scotland! Not that they ever left, of course. All that happened last Thursday – though it’s significant politically – is that the split No vote from 2014 rallied to the Conservative banner, leaving Scottish Labour in a pathetic third place.

This was obvious on the Saturday morning after the Holyrood election, when practically every major Scottish newspaper bore screaming headlines claiming Ruth Davidson’s “victory” meant hope of a second independence vote was “in shreds” (the Express). The Mail claimed this was “the roar of Middle Scotland”. The Times opined that a “humbled Sturgeon wakes up to a new reality”.

As it happens, the SNP ran a campaign that tried to put thoughts of a second referendum well into the background. Instead, the party concentrated on projecting Nicola Sturgeon as the most popular political leader (which she is) and stressing bread and butter policy issues for the coming parliament, particularly on education. References to a second vote on the constitutional question were muted and hedged with conditions.

So why all those tub-thumping headlines? Because, dear reader, for the Conservatives this Holyrood election was about nothing else other than the constitution. Backed by a partisan Tory press – some of whose proprietors are tax-avoiding non-doms – the main Unionist parties vied to corral the No voters into a disciplined force to block the onward march of the SNP. Only Scottish Labour – wracked by internal civil wars – was confused about the nature of the election.

In the end, Scottish Labour was too frightened to continue its “better together” routine, having lost huge swathes of working-class support to the SNP because of nakedly consorting with the Tories in 2014. On the other hand, Scottish Labour’s belated and largely cosmetic references to opposing Tory austerity – after decades of Blairite support for neo-liberalism – went down like a lead balloon with the voters. Result: Ruth Davidson’s re-branded Scottish Tories scooped the pool, even persuading some deluded pro-Union Labour voters to back her vision of a last-stop resistance to independence.

I for one welcome this new political clarity. It’s not that I wish to polarise the Scottish nation deliberately. On the contrary, the independence cause has advanced precisely because the SNP’s brand of civic nationalism has remained peaceful, positive and pragmatic. But the vested interests of the ailing British state and its baying media hacks are too entrenched to let Scotland go quietly.

The emergence of a new Unionist leadership in Scotland in old Tory clothes should put the independence movement on its mettle – and on its guard. If we do not win independence within a decade, Scotland risks being dragged into the neo-liberal, minimum state, dog-eat-dog society beloved of the modern Conservative party.

The Party of Ruth will give us low taxes and minimal public services. As in England, it aims to eliminate democratic local authority control over education and burden students from low-income families with crushing debt. It will eliminate subsidies for clean energy and increase them for foreign-built nuclear power plants. Above all, the new Scottish Tories will create a society driven by the needs of international capital rather than human need – if we let them.

There is a clear message here for a defeated and humiliated Scottish Labour Party: you can either join the Tories as a junior partner in defending the Union – their Conservative version of the Union. Or you can join with the SNP and Scottish Greens in creating an independent, left-of-centre Scotland free to build the inclusive and egalitarian society we all want. There is no third way in Scottish politics any longer. It is an independent, socialist and green Scotland – or a Unionist, Tory and exploited subsidiary of the City of London.

THIS new polarisation of Scottish politics is about class, the environment and the economy. Many of you stuck with Scottish Labour because you fear (erroneously) that the SNP is on the wrong side of that divide. But look at how Glasgow and other core working-class towns voted SNP, and reconsider. Now is the time for Scottish Labour to support a genuine anti-austerity alliance against Tory attacks on the welfare state and human rights. And if you don’t like the SNP’s version of what an independent Scotland would look like, invent your own. Just don’t pretend any longer that Scottish Labour can deliver a better society inside the Union this side of eternity.

What should give hope to Labour members and voters pondering last Thursday’s outcome is the success of the Greens. They proved an ideological space to the left of the SNP – provided you are in the independence camp. I welcome the election of Andy Wightman to Holyrood and am sorry that Sarah Beattie-Smith didn’t make it. However, I think on balance the Both Votes SNP campaign was worth it, even though it garnered only four MSPs on the regional lists. If nothing else, it kept Ukip out of Holyrood.

However, now the smoke has cleared, it is obvious that the overall majority secured by the SNP in 2011 was something of a fluke. The 2016 experiment proves that the rigged Holyrood voting system really does make it near impossible for any single party to secure an overall majority by design, even when it marshals nearly a million electors on the regional list. Warning: SNP supporters are not dense. If they sense a million votes are being “wasted”, they may not be so disciplined next time round, preferring instead to use their second vote tactically.

There are warnings, too, for the SNP in Thursday’s results. The strength of the Tory consolidation – ideologically as well as in seats – means it is unlikely a minority SNP administration can win tactical acceptance of its budget from the Party of Ruth, in return for minor concessions. We are no longer in the same situation as the 2007-2011 minority SNP Government. But again, this provides an opportunity.

The Unionist parties place defence of the undemocratic British constitution above all else. In office, the SNP can (and must) prove we are competent at governing the country. But that is not the primary ground of political combat – certainly not the one chosen by our Unionist opponents. Which means our practice in government has to be a pointer towards independence. We must govern for Scotland as if we were an independent state and challenge the Unionists to get out of our way.

The economy will be the central issue for the Scottish Government of the next five years. As it is, the global economic outlook is decidedly stormy and we are overdue the next big financial crisis. Our opponents claim (with forked tongue) that the SNP Government now has more economic powers than any other “devolved” administration. Very well, let’s put that to the test.

For starters, we need to take direct public control over investment flows in the economy by creating a genuine state-owned investment bank. We may lack the tax powers to act as an economic driver but we can be bolder and intervene directly in the financial sector. Then challenge Scottish Labour and the Greens to support us. And if the Tories at Westminster veto our Scottish

Public Investment Bank? Let’s hope they try.