The Scottish Conservative Party and the Three Unionisms

If there is one thing all Scottish Conservatives can agree on, it is their commitment to the Union. No other issue unites the party in quite the same way. However, there are many ways for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom and the party’s unionist thinking has had to evolve to accommodate both devolution and the independence referendum of 2014. Brexit also presents new challenges to conceptions of unionism and the type of union Scotland can expect if it continues to reject independence. This chapter suggests that Conservative unionist thinking can be broadly split into three camps: the