WHEREVER there have been parliaments there have been – and still are – filibusters, disruptive demonstrations and deliberate attempts to waste time, all undertaken by elected members in order to delay, derail or destroy legislation that somebody, somewhere, does not want.

Such actions are inevitable given that parliament chambers can be – and should be – passionate places, where deeply held views contend.

Indeed parliaments exist, at least in part, to resolve (and, let us not forget, reconcile) such issues but these crucibles sometimes overflow with heat rather than light and burn out of control, as incidents such as Michael Heseltine’s Tarzan-like waving of the Commons Mace back in 1976 – and worse – show.

In order to protect the normal business of a parliament, many legislatures have attempted to make regulations to limit such behaviour, a route taken by the House of Commons after the highly successful campaign of disruption by Irish Home Rulers in the late 19th century and later emulations, including Alex Salmond’s 1988 Budget intervention and Ian Blackford’s ejection for telling the truth about Johnson’s lies earlier this year.

Of course, the Scottish Parliament has not been immune. In 2002, when leaving the old chamber in the Royal Mile, I was spat on by demonstrators backing Tommy Sheridan’s deeply flawed school meals bill –and only two years ago, the Tories tried to sabotage the EU Continuity bill at Holyrood, because it challenged the, at that time, still uncompleted Brexit process.

There is however a basic and crucial difference between such actions and what we witnessed this week. Spontaneous or slow-burning anger at a specific issue is what fuels protest of this sort within a parliament but, almost uniquely, what the Scottish Tories have now set out to do is to destroy the Scottish Parliament itself.

I am sure that the usual Unionist commentariat will immediately have a fit of the pearl-clutching vapours at that assertion. It will also be vehemently denied by the Tories themselves, both north and south of the Border.

But it seems to me that for Douglas Ross and Alister Jack, the matter is becoming clearer by the day. They think that the only way to defeat the idea of independence is to get rid of the Scottish Parliament and therefore that is what they intend to do.

The Tories opposed the establishment of the Parliament in the 1997 devolution referendum but then took advantage of the outcome to be elected to it – unreconciled figures in the No/No campaign faded to the fringes of extremism.

Yet such views are back in the mainstream of Conservatism in Scotland. It is not only Boris Johnson who thinks that devolution has been a disaster, nor only the secretary of state against Scotland who is sneeringly dismissive of its institutions.

Anyone who doubts that should listen again to the debates this week.

From the Tory front bench, bogus interventions, deliberate time wasting, attempts to gum up the works with procedural motions and the repetition of transparently false assertions of respect for the chair while making brazenly impertinent challenges were all undertaken in tones dripping with arrogant contempt.

There was a time when most Tory MSPs would have baulked at such behaviour. They accepted the democratic wish of the Scottish people to choose, as the Claim of Right puts it, “the form of government best suited to their needs”. A properly functioning, constructive modern Scottish Parliament, they realised, is where that would need to be worked out.

However, one must never underestimate the Tory instinct for self-preservation, particularly amongst the Scottish landed classes. And as the wind has blown increasingly from the Brexiteer right, so they have shifted too.

BREXIT has brought about the change. For Brexiteers the whole purpose of the exercise was to establish the absolute sovereignty of Westminster.

That cannot be shared, nor any part of it devolved elsewhere. Consequently, the very existence of the Scottish Parliament is unacceptable and if it cannot be neutered, it must be destroyed.

Neutering is not working. The emergence of a new SNP/Green axis threatens further divergence, making the imposition of a single UK-wide right-wing Brexit-based polity on the economy, education, environment, health, justice and a host of other areas more difficult.

So, the Tories have now determined that Holyrood must go and the only question is how.

I don’t think they have finally worked that out, but undermining the Parliament, demonising progressive politics, and seeking to drive wedges in the Yes movement are all parts of it.

So is the use of the courts – as is now undoubtedly being planned again – to ram home the primacy of Westminster and the alleged inadequate nature of Scottish decision-making.

Putting the very existence of Holyrood to a vote seemed, a few years ago, to be a bizarre Unionist fantasy.

Now with Brexit bought by dirty money (which is still around and available) and with the willing help of a slavishly unionist media, the Tory leadership in Scotland thinks it might just be possible, providing the ground is prepared well enough in advance.

So expect much more bad behaviour from Ross and his acolytes. They will hijack any cause, adopt any position and press any argument in order to destroy what they cannot defeat, which is nothing less than Scottish democracy.

That is why the coming year will be so crucial. How the Yes movement reacts to this Tory threat, the choices it makes about a plebiscite election and the ability it has to present a compelling vision of Scotland’s future as an independent, progressive, nation are going to be the key determinants of what happens next.

I think, for the record, that the Tories will lose this battle. There are reasons to be cheerful, as one should be at Christmas time.

But some things must not be ignored, even at Christmas.

One of them is the reality of the Tory desire to shatter Scotland’s aspirations by destroying Scottish democracy and abolishing the still incomplete Scottish Parliament.