Three reasons Reform UK Scotland will fail
The launch of a new political party can be explosive. When viewed with hindsight, such events can be seen to have defined a political era. The 1981 launch of the SDP, for example, represents a time when the UK electorate sought a halfway house between merciless Thatcherite market reform and stubborn, electorally toxic hard-left Labour ideology.
That said, the launch this week of Reform UK Scotland is unlikely to take up more than a couple of lines in the annals of Scotland’s political history. Its leader, former Conservative MSP for the South Scotland region Michelle Ballantyne, is altogether more interesting than her new party.