Margaret Thatcher, Scotland and the Scottish Conservatives

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Westminster

The news broke earlier today that the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher, had died. Provoking tributes, opinion and reflection, there is no doubt that Britain's Iron Lady has a place in history forever.

I was born in Scotland's capital city during her final years as Prime Minister. I'm far too young to properly appreciate and understand how life changed under her leadership, how people completely reacted to her policies and direction and how seismic the change in society was during the 1980's.

Whether it was the poll tax, the closure of much of the manufacturing industry or her general economic policy, there is no doubt that much of the political debate in Scotland is centred around what happened three decades ago. The current debate on the prospect of Scottish independence is mainly based on past events that happened around that time and many people still talk about her, despite the fact that she left office 23 years ago. And that is down to a number of factors.

Firstly, those that lived under her tenure at Number 10 still reflect on what was happening in the

Is this the legacy of Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister?

country. Secondly, the current policies from the coalition, led by the Conservatives, drive individual and political commentators to compare now to what was happening approximately thirty years ago. And thirdly, compared to other past Prime Ministers, she was truly unique in her style of leadership.

The United Kingdom had never seen a leader of the kind that Margaret Thatcher was. And Scotland's future was to be majorly driven in a direction which was inevitably affected by the policies she pursued.   Almost a decade after resigning as Prime Minister, the Scottish Parliament was reborn for the first time in 292 years. During a BBC documentary called 'Thatcher and the Scots', it's presenter Allan Little commented that:

"She let the genie of Scottish national aspiration out of the 300 year old bottle of British soveringty."

And that is what we are seeing today. Alex Salmond has been our First Minister since 2007 and after his Scottish National Party secured an overall majority at Holyrood in 2011, it has provided them the mandate they have long been seeking to achieve. Next September, the nation will have the chance to decide whether Scotland should stay in the United Kingdom or become an independent country.

And whatever the outcome, it will be truly historic. If Scotland votes to leave the United Kingdom, some may dare to say that Margaret Thatcher's political legacy in Scotland was not just the Scottish Parliament, but Scotland's independence. Others may disagree.

And as for the Scottish Conservative party, it's fair to say that they have never recovered from their downfall back at the UK General Election in 1997, despite increasing their share of the vote in 1992 under John Major. The party seem to have lost their ability to bounce back from their decline, despite increasing their share of the vote in Scotland at the 2010 UK General Election. They still only have just the one MP north of the border and failed to win more seats three years ago. This outcome can be interpreted as partly to blame for David Cameron falling short with the number of seats won at the election, failing to ensure that his party sealed an overall majority.

And as far as current polls show, David Cameron could well have to depart Downing Street in just over two years time as Labour are now 10 points ahead of the Conservatives. Thatcherism now shapes the political debate across the UK and what may happen in the next two years could well shape the destiny of these islands forever.

For now though, Baroness Thatcher's life and her time as Prime Minister will be spoken about for days, weeks, months and even years to come.