AFTER winning the Scottish Liberal Democrat leadership last summer, Tavish Scott announced he was prepared to consider a referendum on Scotland's future.
"I am not intuitively against making sure that people have a choice and an opportunity to cast a vote on these things," he said.
The comment caused some surprise since Mr Scott had appeared as the most hard-line opponent of any coalition deal with
the SNP after the 2007 Holyrood election, telling the Nationalists not even to bother picking up the phone unless they were willing to drop their insistence on an independence referendum.
His softened stance on taking over the helm was seen as possibly paving the way for a multi-option referendum, offering voters a choice between the status quo, going it alone or a halfway house of "more powers".
Alex Salmond had made it clear during the election campaign he was willing to include a third option – and the offer is still there if the opposition parties can agree on a proposal to put on the ballot paper.
Now Mr Scott is once more ruling out a referendum – at least for now. He says people are "fed up with endless speculation about independence as they worry about having a job tomorrow".
The declaration came just after Finance Secretary John Swinney had produced a document setting out options for more financial powers and gone out of his way to praise "devo-max", effectively the Lib Dems' position.
Mr Scott and his colleagues rebuffed this advance, if that's what it was, by forcing a vote in the parliament last week which delivered a firm "No" to a referendum. The Scottish Lib Dems' spring conference in Perth this weekend will discuss the party's position on more powers for the Scottish Parliament.
A detailed, 83-line motion sets out the argument to be put to the cross-party Calman commission, but the Lib Dem leadership seems strangely reluctant to draw attention to the debate.
Instead, they say the three-day conference, which starts tomorrow, will be "all about the economy".
Although some activists are said to believe a referendum might not be a bad idea, there has been no amendment tabled calling for one.
The Lib Dems' list of responsibilities they would like transferred to Holyrood goes well beyond the borrowing powers being talked of by other parties. It includes drugs and firearms, marine policy, energy, equality and the electoral system. They say the Scottish Parliament should have the powers to raise "as much of its own revenue as practical".
They also want a new federal system of shared responsibility for tackling unemployment and overseeing shared UK networks like transport and broadcasting.
And they say the UK parliament should retain the tax powers necessary to meet its responsibilities in national emergencies, defence, foreign affairs, pensions and social security.
The motion to be debated on Saturday says Calman could deliver a "radical and progressive roadmap" for the future shape of government in Scotland.
A senior MSP, however, admits Calman might well go for the "lowest common denominator" and end up proposing fairly minimal change.
Some may feel the Lib Dems might have had more chance of achieving their own goal of significant extra devolution by pursuing some kind of closer working with the SNP. Indeed it looked for a while as if that might be on the cards.
The deal which the Lib Dems negotiated in return for their support for the SNP's budget last month was widely dismissed for failing to secure any concessions which could have a figure put on them.
But when Finance Secretary John Swinney detailed the agreement reached, he said it represented "an important development in the politics of the Scottish Parliament" and a new "strategic, economic and financial engagement".
Mr Swinney firmly rejected any notion of considering a coalition with the Lib Dems. The deal seemed to send a signal that whereas up till now the SNP's best friends in the parliament had been the Tories, the Lib Dems – possibly more natural allies – could now be approached for support as well.
Tavish Scott – who only weeks earlier was involved in a fierce confrontation with Alex Salmond and accused him of misleading parliament – used the next First Minister's Questions to cosy up to the SNP and concentrate his fire on Labour.
The new friendly relationship took a knock a few days later, though, when the SNP announced, out of the blue, that it was dropping its plans for a local income tax, one of the main issues where there was common ground with the Lib Dems.
A Lib Dem insider admits the tax U-turn was "a problem" and "a disappointment" but says the two parties are nevertheless having ongoing talks about other issues.
There has been speculation the Lib Dems might be ready to think about a coalition with the SNP after the next Holyrood elections in 2011, but a senior Lib Dem MSP is less than enthusiastic.
"We could find common ground on social policies, but the big stumbling block will always be that issue of independence.
"If you are in coalition, you have to feel you can work with your partners day-to-day, but it also helps if you feel you're heading in the same direction.
"It's difficult to see a coalition being a success when you don't agree on where you want to end up."
