Now Nicola has stolen everyone’s political clothes

ONE of the most striking aspects, looking back a year ago to those febrile days before the referendum, is how divided we were. Remember the scuffles in the street, the abuse hurled at Jim Murphy as he toured the country on his soapbox? Remember the talk of families torn apart, of angry confrontations in pubs and all that vile bilge on Twitter?

We were a nation divided – and the 55-45 vote showed just deep the chasm was.

Yet, here we are a year on and that divide seems to have disappeared, at least politically. We have one massive, all-conquering party led by Nicola Sturgeon and a few waifs and strays clinging desperately to the wreckage of any of the opposition parties left standing.

It has been a remarkable transformation, so much so that the old quips about Scotland becoming a one-party state are no longer funny: the SNP really does seem to control everything.

Not only does it have a majority at Holyrood – something we were told was impossible – but it is expecting to secure an even bigger one next year.

It has 90 per cent of the Scottish seats at Westminster, it is the biggest party in Scotland by a factor of five and its tentacles reach into every cranny of Scottish life.

Everyone in public life in Scotland knows the new simple truth about politics: if you want to get on, become a Nationalist. In the past year, the rules have changed. There is one party: there is one state – and the two are pretty close to being the same thing.

But something happened last week to suggest the SNP’s all-conquering dominance is only going to increase; that Nicola Sturgeon intends totally to crush the other parties under the tracks of her Nationalist tank.

What happened was the Scottish Government’s legislative programme for the year ahead. Now, this is usually a fairly dull affair. The First Minister reads out a load of Bills, most of them worthy but uncontentious.

It was much the same this year. Miss Sturgeon said she would introduce eight Bills, none of which will cause any problems.

But what was instructive was what she said alongside her legislative programme. She spent the first part of her speech eulogising about business and how her administration was going to be the best friend business ever had in Scotland. This was classic Tory stuff, designed to portray the SNP as the entrepreneur’s ally.

Then she moved on to welfare and declared her intention to scrap the bedroom tax at the first opportunity. This was old school Labour material. This was Miss Sturgeon saying she was a comrade to the downtrodden and the dispossessed; a leader who could stand up the evils inflicted by the hated UK Government.

But there was more. She moved on to the police, for months now the favoured subject of the Lib Dems. She would reset Police Scotland, she vowed, and stand up for all those who wanted to reform it.

Now, leaving aside the extraordinary gall she showed in embracing so many apparently contradictory stances, there was something very revealing in Miss Sturgeon’s speech.

SHE went on to Tory territory to appeal to Conservative voters. She then marched on to Labour ground to appeal to any last stragglers who have not yet jumped ship to the SNP. She even took the time to try to wrangle out the last few Lib Dems.

It was a political move only the SNP could attempt because only the SNP is not hidebound by the old Right/Left agenda.

The Tories could have championed business, but wouldn’t have been able to attack welfare cuts. Labour could have said much the same on the bedroom tax, but would have stopped short of tax breaks for business.

It was the most anti-political political speech ever heard in the Scottish parliament. It really did promise all things to all men and showed that Miss Sturgeon is not only prepared to take any solutions to any problems from anywhere, but she is prepared to sweep up supporters from all of her opponents at the same time.

Given that none of her opponents has much in the way of support in Scotland any more, it was ruthless. It showed how the SNP is going to approach the election. It will try to outflank the Tories on the economy, outmanoeuvre Labour on welfare and take the Lib Dems on in any way it can.

Under the SNP, politics is no longer measured by the old Left/ Right spectrum. The only divide that matters is over the constitution; and Miss Sturgeon even seems content to push that to the background for the moment – until she has crushed her opponents, totally and utterly.

We really are no longer a nation divided. In Scotland, it is the SNP versus the also-rans. The traditional rules of politics have been ripped up – and until one of the other parties comes up with a way of challenging the SNP. It is difficult to see anything changing, at least for the foreseeable future.