By Willie Rennie and Tim Farron
Over the past 12 months, politics in Scotland and right across the UK has changed fundamentally.
The referendum on independence for Scotland was the first in a series of events that has led to a political landscape that combines the old with the new.
Old, with a Labour Shadow Chancellor who in the past has expressed a desire to overthrow capitalism. New, with Scottish nationalism playing an increased role in the House of Commons.
Ideological battle lines have been drawn up and in Scotland, the choice facing voters is stark.
The Conservative Party has moved to the right, flirting with anti-immigration sentiment in their response to the refugee crisis and moving to erode our civil liberties in the name of security.
Labour have shifted to the left, reaching for the comfort blanket of policies that failed the first time round and have not been seen since. The election of Jeremy Corbyn does not mark the emergence of a new politics. It is a return to an old politics last seen in 1983.
The SNP are attacking the Tories from the left. But the left-wing social democratic rhetoric we have heard from Nicola Sturgeon and her colleagues would hold more water if it were not for their failure to address the glaring problems in public services in Scotland.
The Conservative victory at the General Election did not lead to missed waiting time targets in Scotland’s NHS and a GP recruitment crisis. It did not lead to falling standards of literacy in our schools. The SNP managed these things all by themselves.
There is nothing progressive about failing to ensure that children have the opportunity to get the education they need. Challenging Labour on the left might grab headlines but it will not help teachers or pupils one bit.
What space for the Liberal Democrats in this brave new world? As party members gather for our first UK conference since what by any measure was a terrible general election result, there are reasons to look to the future with confidence.
First, since May 7, tens of thousands of people from across the country have joined the Liberal Democrats. On issues like English Votes for English Laws and the refugee crisis, we are leading opposition to the Tories and working with others to hold them back. We are the only UK party prepared to offer a full throated defence of our place in the European Union.
We reject those who would argue that economic discipline and social justice are mutually exclusive. Tories on the right will never stand up for fairness. We saw this over five long years of stopping them doing their worst as part of the coalition. Labour and the SNP on the left would move us away from the economic growth that Liberal Democrats helped deliver in government.
With UK politics experiencing a back to the future moment, the need for a radical, centre-ground, internationalist party is as urgent as ever.
At the Scottish Parliament elections next year, voters have the chance to back a party that is working to deliver free childcare to more families and ensure that kids get the best possible start in life. A party that is working to support doctors and nurses in our NHS who have been let down by an SNP government that took their eye off the ball during the referendum. A party determined to ensure that progress made on fairer taxes, on jobs and economic growth is not squandered and those at the bottom of the pile are not left to fend for themselves.
The Liberal Democrat vision for Scotland and the UK is a free and fair society where everyone, no matter the circumstances of their birth, or the challenges they face, has the chance to get up and get on. These are values that we have always stood for as a party. If you share our vision then you might be a liberal too. Embrace that diagnosis and work with us to deliver a fairer, more open society.
Willie Rennie MSP, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and Tim Farron MP, leader of the Liberal Democrats,
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