Scottish Conservatives Must Deal with the Legacy of Margaret Thatcher Before the Party Can Move Forward

Scottish Tory leadership contender Murdo Fraser will formally launch his campaign with a vow to disband the Scottish party if he is elected.

Mr Fraser, who is already deputy leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, says the brand is "tainted" and needs to be totally overhauled if it is to become a credible force.

"I think it's time we launched a new, progressive, centre-right party with a distinct Scottish identity. One that would have a partnership with the UK Conservative Party and in other respects is operationally independent. I think that would be much more attractive to many people in Scotland who share our values," he said.

The Conservative Party in Scotland since the 1980's has been eroded to the point where the party only holds one Westminster seat. The history of conservatism in Scotland is strong but the image and legacy of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party is something that many Scot's find difficult twenty years on to forget.

What can be seen is since Margaret Thatcher's time in government the Conservative Party in Scotland has been eroded. In 1979 when Thatcher swept to power across the United Kingdom the Conservative Party gained 22 out of 72 seats. By 1997 they had lost all of those seats and by 2010 the party only holds one Westminster seat. Margaret Thatcher's aggressive conservatism in the 1980's has caused the decline and is something that Scottish Conservatives have to tackle. A simple PR stunt of changing the name may not deal with the root issues the party has failed to tackle over the past 20-30 years.

What are the underlying issues that have lead to such resentment towards Scottish Conservative Party. Margret Thatcher used the Scot's as 'guinea pigs' for the English poll tax. At the 2010 general election, the English gave the Tories an overall majority of 61, and a lead over Labour of 106; a result that only became a hung Parliament due to Scot's and Welsh votes. The English democratic deficit is one of the profound holes in the centre of the UK political edifice, and one which impacts on Scots whether it be the emergence of "English votes for English laws" or rising support for an English parliament.

So what are the options? Should the Conservative Party sit back and allow the SNP to take Scotland down a dangerous path of independence and simply disband? If they did it would increase the chances of the Tory party being able to govern in England with a majority.

Michael Forsyth, now Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the last Conservative Scottish Secretary (1995-1997) believes that such a rebranding exercise will miss the point of the problem. He describes the idea as both "naive and simplistic" that changing the party name and distancing itself from the Conservatives will bring electoral success.

The Scottish Conservatives must continue to fight the SNP in Scotland but the cost to the party is great. To re brand the party without dealing with the root causes of the resentment is pointless. It is a negative way of looking a politics but the Scottish Conservative's must look back in order to make strides forward. If they do not, the union is under threat.