This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

The Strange Death of Liberal England is an interesting book, at least if you’re a political anorak like myself. It was published in 1935 at the time when the fortunes of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom were at one of their lowest ebbs.

The theory is pretty simple. It points out that between 1910 and 1914, the then Liberal Government was simply fighting battles on too many fronts, from the rise of trade unions, to votes for women, and the very real possibility of a civil war in Ireland.

The book would have stayed gathering dust on my shelf but for recent events.

In 2019, I won my seat with the tightest majority in Scotland. This Liberal MP hung onto his seat by the skin of his teeth. It was only five years ago that the Scottish National Party seemed invincible.

And then, just last month, they counted the votes in Dingwall. Not only was I home and dry with a majority of 11 votes short of 10,500, but my constituency next door neighbour, Angus Macdonald, had pulled off a shock result in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire and retirement suddenly beckoned for his MP predecessor, the SNP’s Drew Hendry.

Angus Macdonald pulled off a shock result for the Liberal Democrats, displacing the SNP's Drew Hendry in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Image: Colin Mearns)
That same night, the Labour Party swept through Scotland further south and the SNP was reduced from 48 seats in Westminster to a mere nine. By any standards, it was an astonishing defeat for the nationalists.

So what does this mean for the SNP? The prospect of the Scottish Election in 2026 cannot be a pleasant one for any incumbent SNP member of the Scottish Parliament. No matter what the brave talk might be, the general thinking in London and Edinburgh is that unless they change dramatically they could face a similar disaster at the hands of the Scottish electorate.

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If you knocked on doors during the election, whether in the remotest corners of Sutherland or the busy hub of Glasgow, you will have gathered an idea of how much public opinion has shifted.

“Och, we’ve had enough.”
“Time for a change, pal.”
“Yer tea’s oot, Jimmy!”

Any mention of a campervan and the language became too strong to recount here. When it came to either the Conservatives in London or the SNP in Edinburgh, they were all seen as chancers. They’d had their time, and now it was up.

And yet, the volume at which the public delivered this message was astonishing. Had you said to me a year and a half ago that a formerly mighty party would suffer such a mighty crash at the next election, then I would have said that you had maybe drunk one or two too many.

This is where I reach for the old book on my shelf and, reading it again, the parallels are fascinating. The SNP’s failed Deposit Return Scheme, the Highly Protected Marine Areas, the Alcohol Advertising Ban, and even the wood burning stoves, all pointed to a Government that had lost its way. Too many fights on too many fronts, and the public were sick of the soap opera.

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While the utter collapse of the SNP and the Conservatives is rather shocking, the move towards Liberalism is not surprising. Life is difficult enough for families without our two Governments running our economy into the ground, losing public money, and feeding into divisive culture wars. The British people across all four nations of this country want nothing more than sensible, realistic, and levelheaded politics, and that is what we have to offer.

If you look at a map of the UK, you will see more orange splodges than ever before, not least in the Highlands. After all, this country has liberal roots, and now it's time to watch them grow again.

Jamie Stone is the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.