Andy Maciver

Next week’s general election is, in truth, pretty boring. Or, let me be more specific, it is pretty boring in England. The overarching unknown appears to be the size of the Labour party’s majority, and that is a matter of interest not in and of itself, but because of the potential impact on the Conservative Party.

This is an election where nobody wants to talk about cuts; about saving money. Cuts, or savings, are considered to be an absolute bad, with no room for nuance.

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party is locked out of power and, remarkably, it has turned the lock itself, and thrown the key down the toilet.

Nigel Farage is many things, but daft is not amongst them. Whether he is a master strategist or a master opportunist is a point of conjecture, but his impact is not.

“I would describe myself as a socialist”. So said Prime Minister-in-waiting Sir Keir Starmer this week. But voters are already moving beyond the labels, and more significantly moving beyond the ideological construct as a way of defining themselves, their politics and their voting patterns.

It’s the six weeks after the election that really matters In politics, metaphors are very dangerous. At 5.13pm on Wednesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stood in Downing Street, intending to deliver eight minutes of optimistic, upbeat rhetoric to convince voters that, in six weeks, they should reject change in favour of continuity.

Notwithstanding the need for some more mettle in his economic policy, Mr Sarwar must be commended for committing to decentralising Scotland. This is not sexy politics, at least not yet, but in the final analysis it may be the most important thing he does if he becomes First Minister.

Compromise normally makes a good umbrella, but often a poor roof. John Swinney, Scotland’s new First Minister, will hope that the roof will be good enough to see his government, and his party, through to the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.

This time last month, Scotland had a First Minister whose competence, fairly or unfairly, was in question, and whose government was detached from the concerns of the everyday person. A government which prioritised issues about which few cared, and then landed on the wrong side of those issues. This time next month, Scotland seems likely to have a First Minister whose middle name is Competence, and whose government may be ready to reacquaint itself with the matters of importance to the everyday people of this country.

In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity. These words were first attributed to the Chinese general Sun Tzu over 2,500 years ago, but they should also, today, be plastered all over the wall of Humza Yousaf’s office.