Today marks the 25th anniversary of the first meeting of the modern Scottish Parliament. It was a moment of celebration. Dr. Winifred Ewing of the Scottish National Party (SNP), presiding as the oldest member, told the assembled legislators, “I want to begin with the words that I have always wanted either to say or to hear someone else say: the Scottish Parliament, which adjourned on 25 March 1707, is hereby reconvened.”

This was not legally true, as the new body had no continuity from the Parliament of Scotland that existed before Great Britain was formed, but it caught the joyous and optimistic mood. Yet a quarter of a century on, there is little sense of optimism anywhere in the parliament.

Tony Blair’s Labour government created the Scottish Parliament as part of a widespread program of devolution that also saw assemblies created for Wales and Northern Ireland. It was widely assumed early on that Scotland would be a reliable Labour fiefdom. In 1997, Labour had won 46 percent of the vote and 56 of its 72 members of Parliament, and they comfortably won the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, forming a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats.

Somehow, though, it all went wrong. The inaugural First Minister, Donald Dewar, died following a fall after 17 months in office, and his........

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