Scottish Liberal Democrats

Website: http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk

The Scottish Liberal Democrats are a part of the UK Liberal Democratic party. The party was formed in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal Party and the short lived Social Democratic Party; the two parties had already been in an alliance for some years prior to this.

The Lib Dems are currently the third-largest party in the UK Parliament, behind Labour and the Conservatives, with 63 Members of Parliament elected at the general election of 2005 and one from the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. In the Scottish Parliament, they form a coalition Scottish Executive with Labour, where the Lib Dems supply the Deputy First Minister, currently Nicol Stephen. The party is led by Sir Menzies Campbell, who was elected leader in March 2006.

There are seen as being marginally to the left of Labour in UK political terms. The Lib-Dems believe in a federal UK and recently published a paper suggesting the Scottish Parliament should have more powers. It has been suggested that they may join an SNP coalition in a future Scottish parliament as both parties support a local income tax and other policies.

Unfortunately the Liberal Democrats have ruled out supporting a referendum on independence though they may well change this viewpoint once the votes add up. The Liberal Democrats describe themselves as  'federalists' however in practice they are unionists who support the status quo.

Read the Steel Commission Report (pdf)