Scottish Tory delegates are upbeat but sense that mood may soon change

Members believe their party, which not so long ago was regarded as almost an irrelevance in Scotland, is on the way up and are thrilled it moved from third to second place in Holyrood.

It is the first time members have gathered at a conference north of the Border since last year’s May elections and there is much talk of the record number of MSPs they now have - 31 from 15 in 2011.

But despite Ruth Davidson and her team’s bravado in tackling the “narrow nationalism” of the SNP, a sense of nervousness hangs in the air.

“It’s been brilliant,” said Mark Openshaw, 63, a retired drilling professional, who come down from Aberdeen to Glasgow with his wife Maggie, a retired deputy head teacher, for the event.

“We’ve had very positive results in the elections and for the first time we are seeing an effective opposition in the parliament.”

The couple are buoyed up by Theresa May’s speech and are especially impressed by her commitment as see described it towards”protecting the Union”.

Mrs Openshaw, a retired deputy head teacher, said: “The highlight to me was just one little phrase that really made it for me: it was “we are four nations, one people.”

But despite the positive words Mr Openshaw is unclear what he believes May should do if Nicola Sturgeon calls a referendum on independence and presses the Prime Minister for agreement to give Holyrood the power to hold one.

“I would love for [May] to be able to say no, but I’m not a political enough person to say whether that could play into the hands of the nationalists.

“ I would like May to be able to say when it happens. If it has to happen, then the only logical way of allowing the people of Scotland an informed position is once the outcome of the Brexit negotiations are known.”

He believes if the vote is before Brexit is concluded people wouldn’t know what they were voting for - a criticism levelled at the EU referendum. The couple, both of whom voted Remain in the EU referendum, appear to put on a brave face about Brexit saying “we just have to get on with it”, but there is a sense of worry about what could be around the corner.

Very hesitantly and reluctantly, they concede that independence is something they might even support if the debate was framed “realistically”. “If I heard the SNP say [in the 2014 referendum] that independence could be difficult, could set Scotland back a while but it’s the principle of independence that’s so important. If they were willing to accept all of that, we’ll all work hard and make it work I would have supported independence but clearly the majority of people jumping on the SNP bandwagon were doing it because they thought it was magically going to mean that somebody would give them something.”

Mrs Openshaw adds: “There is one last way for me that I would vote for independence if, whoever was in power in Scotland made a huge success of what they are doing in terms of education in health, the economy, business. If those areas were seen to be successful then I would consider independence, but it’s not.”

Sheila and Steve Mannion were also happy to stop to chat to The National.They do not accept the First Minister’s belief May is poised to use Brexit to transfer powers over agriculture subsidies to Westminster and speak of the benefits of devolution.

“This is imaginary,” said Mr Mannion, 77, a retired police officer. “May has put those concerns to bed. She’s dealt with it. She pointed out there was no question of that happening.”

However, they admit they would not like to see Brexit used to undermine devolution and would like to see more powers, particularly over agriculture, heading to Holyrood. “Yes of course it would be a concern,” said Mrs Mannion, a retired florist. “We are proud of what we have at the moment. Just because we are Tories does not mean we are not Scottish and not pro devolution. We very much are.”