Talk of a coalition deal between the SNP and Labour to lock out Reform at next year’s Holyrood election would be unworkable as well as antidemocratic, writes Carlos Alba

This week I had occasion to interview a London-based doctor who, as an aside, mentioned that he enjoys visiting his daughter, who lives in Glasgow, because he prefers the politics of Scotland and its people.

It’s the sort of comment you often hear from a certain type of left-leaning, socially progressive English person who views Scotland longingly as the kind of sunlit, egalitarian upland they dream of for their own country.

More so now, since other parts of the UK, but mainly England, appear to be heading for a full-blown Faragification of politics and society.

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While the rest of the country is being sized for a sturdy pair of jackboots, ready to kick the next boatload of migrants back into the English Channel, north of the border we are gathered in a rainbow shaped chain, performing a rousing chorus of Freedom Come All Ye.

Migrant boats continue to arrive in the UK(Image: PA)

Of course, this idea of Scottish exceptionalism is a myth, that people here are somehow kinder and more tolerant than in the rest of the UK, and more resistant to the easy blandishments of populist mountebanks.

The extent of the fallacy is expected to be laid bare in a landmark report, to be published next week by the Scottish Centre for Social Research, to mark 25 years of its Scottish Social Attitudes survey.

The study will provide an independent record of changing social and political attitudes in Scotland since devolution, highlighting key trends, including shifts in attitudes towards governance, Scottish vs. English political........

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