The Liberal Democrats hold some of the most popular policy positions in the country, yet they continually underperform at elections. Andy Maciver argues that more Lib Dems would be good for Holyrood, but that the party will need to shout a little louder if they want voters to hear them.

Today’s story is The Curious Case of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. And it is curious indeed.

It’s worth thinking, for a few minutes, about the position the Lib Dems in Scotland find themselves in, because at a conceptual level their minor representation - they won only three per cent of the seats in the Scottish Parliament at the last election, and only one seat more at the previous two, and some of the more pessimistic polling has them repeating that underperformance again on May 7 - is a head-scratcher.

Three per cent? It seems a wildly unrepresentative return for the basic foundations of Liberal Democrat policy and philosophy.

Think about their positions on some of the most foundational issues. Firstly, the Lib Dems are vocally in favour of re-joining the European Union. A poll just last week by Survation for True North showed that almost three-quarters of Scots agree with them. Now, they can’t claim this to be a unique position but, since the only other party which shares that ambition is the SNP, it is unique amongst pro-UK voters and therefore logically an attractive selling point amongst around half of those pro-EU voters.

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Secondly, the Lib Dems believe Scotland should remain in the UK, but with the Scottish Parliament having more enhanced powers. This position is genuinely unique; on one........

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