Has everything changed? The numbers say so: SNP down from 48 to 9. Labour up from 1 to 37. The headlines say so: “Keir Starmer wants new positive relationship with Scotland”. Even my feelings say so, yours too maybe. For years: anger, frustration, more anger. Now: relief, satisfaction. Hope?

Let’s add some realism to the mix though. Keir Starmer and John Swinney no doubt had a perfectly civil conversation on Sunday, with Sir Keir saying how he wants Scotland to be at the beating heart of decision-making and Mr Swinney saying he wants to work with the new government to make our lives better. They’re playing nice. Great.

But for how long? For a start, the SNP’s strategy has been to tell us that everything except the rain is Westminster’s fault and, even though the results of the election would seem to suggest it’s a strategy that’s no longer working for them (if it ever did) it’s going to be a hard habit to break.

First Minister John Swinney (Image: free)

The other reason to be cautious about a supposed new age of cooperation is the question of credit. Perhaps the two governments really will work together, as Mr Swinney says, to tackle child poverty, grow the economy, and improve public services. But there’s another election coming in two years and if there are improvements, Labour and the SNP will both want to take the credit, and if there aren’t improvements, they’ll both want to blame the other one. It means trouble ahead.

But before any of that happens - and it will - here’s something perhaps both the leaders should be thinking about. For a long time, we’ve been used to the SNP talking about how they speak for the people of Scotland, and represent Scotland’s values, and........

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