ABSTRACT
The apparent intractability of Scotland’s problems would disappear with the application of ‘the principles of democratic accountability and decentralisation.’ Scottish Conservatives have apparently accepted the logic of the continuing run of electoral defeats and begun to distance themselves from both their past and some of the British party’s current policies. Health policy will be unable to escape a prominent, and potentially explosive, role in the development of the whole devolution settlement. The performance of the executive in health matters will almost certainly have a major bearing on the development of the devolution policy as a whole. The demand for devolution came to focus the hopes of all manner of reformers. The most optimistic supporters of devolution rest their hopes on a particular interpretation of the character of the Scottish electorate. Health policy will be one of the main areas in which the devolved institutions will have to demonstrate their usefulness.
