Are we being best served?

If only industry’s wish for a stable business environment was granted

A er the high drama of the 2014 Sco sh independence referendum, the campaign for the May 5 Sco sh parliament elections was a very tame a air. Kpinion polls (where would we be without them ) predicted that Nicola Sturgeon s SNP would get re-elected with a landslide, and e ia Dugdale s Sco sh Labour Party and Ruth Davidson s Sco sh Conservative Party would compete for second place.

No one else really mattered, although the Liberal Democrats were tipped to lose a few seats and the reen Party to gain a few.

Such is the presidential nature of modern Sco sh politics, the election was presented as a struggle between three strong women, one of whom has already gained the hearts of about 50 per cent of Sco sh voters.

What of the next five years of SNP government Well, some political faces will change but the party manifesto feels a bit more of the same .

The SNP appears to be struggling to break away from being a party of protest. Despite massive new powers coming to the Sco sh government, their manifesto still emphasises their inability to develop a cohesive industrial strategy without devolution of even further political powers.

Strikingly, the election campaign was devoid of any serious debate about the economy, despite clear evidence of worrying downturns and jobs losses in some business sectors.

Realistically, the SNP s manifesto position will not command the confidence of Sco sh in-