Is it celebration time for SNP?

By Andrew Black
Political reporter, BBC Scotland news website

As the Scottish National Party reaches the grand old age of 75, it has reason to celebrate at its 2009 spring conference.

The party is more than halfway through its first term in power as the Scottish Government, but, even in this milestone year, it has had a tough few months.

There was the close shave with the budget, the SNP government's flagship plans to scrap council tax have been dropped, and its crackdown on alcohol abuse has run into strong opposition at Holyrood.

It has also been a time of mourning for the party, following the deaths of the first Asian MSP, Bashir Ahmad and SNP veteran, Prof Neil MacCormick.

The minority Scottish Government faced its toughest test yet when its £30bn budget for the year was - in a first - voted down by parliament.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said the spending plans would support thousands of jobs and boost economic recovery in tough times. Political opponents disagreed.

Officials worked to bring the budget back to parliament the following week, while the process of horse trading with opposition parties got under way as ministers sought enough support to pass it - and avoid a possible snap election.

Policy setback

As the rejection concentrated minds at Holyrood, ministers agreed to Labour demands on boosting apprenticeships and supported a Lib Dem strategy to boost the economy to win enough votes to pass it second time around.

Mr Swinney declared the various parties had shown an overwhelming will to take the correct action to support public services and the economy, although the two Green MSPs, whose votes sealed the budget's fate first time around again refused to back it, over funding for the party's proposed free home insulation scheme.

Then it was down to individual policies - and a setback for one of the SNP's most high-profile proposals.

Ministers announced their plans to replace the council tax with a 3p local income tax would be dropped, not to be considered by the SNP until after the next election.

The Scottish Government conceded a lack of support at Holyrood to pass the plans, as opposition parties said the policy was discredited.

But, amid growing cross-party consensus for council tax reform, ministers have turned the argument round, targeting those MSPs who choose to "deny" their constituents an alternative to council tax, which the Scottish Government has frozen two years in a row.

Ministers' radical plans to tackle Scotland's record on alcohol abuse and drink-fuelled crime have also been called into doubt, in the face of political opposition.

The proposals, including minimum pricing and a "social responsibility fee" on some alcohol retailers, will now be brought forward in separate heath legislation, instead of in the wide-ranging Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill.

Government spats

Labour tried to say the move showed a lack of confidence in Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill - ministers said alcohol problems were costing Scotland £2.25bn a year and had gone unchecked for too long.

The Scottish Government has also been pushing ahead with its National Conversation on Scotland's constitutional future - while finally engaging with the Calman Commission, which is reviewing devolution after 10 years, but is not looking at independence.

In time-honoured fashion, spats between the Scottish and UK Governments are still there - including Holyrood ministers' claims that the Westminster efficiency savings drive will cut £500m-a-year off the Scottish budget and The Treasury's rejection of a Scottish Government request to spread the cost of the new £2bn Forth Road Bridge over 20 years.

The UK cabinet, which met in Scotland for the first time in 90 years, also used the global financial crisis to demonstrate it had the real powers to save Scotland's banking sector.

It has argued the multi-billion pound bail-out of two of Scotland's leading banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, was testament to the strength of the Union and would be outwith the means of the Scottish Government - and an independent Scotland.

The Treasury also agreed to take on about £1.5bn of commercial property lending and acquired mortgage debt under a deal to save the Dunfermline, Scotland's largest building society, after it was announced the Nationwide would take it over.

Mr Salmond welcomed the deal but said there were "perplexing" questions over how the society had been treated by the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority, after a UK Government bailout was ruled out.

Scotland's profile

Amid the economic doom and gloom, the Scottish Government also launched the year of Homecoming, involving people across Scotland and Scots abroad alike.

Linked to the 250th anniversary of the birth of national bard Robert Burns, it aims to raise the country's profile - not that it stopped some detractors from suggesting it was less about about selling Scotland to the world and more about selling Nationalism to the Scots.

Despite all the celebration, there has also been sorrow.

Figures from across the political spectrum attended the funeral of 68-year-old Glasgow SNP MSP Mr Ahmad.

Mr Ahmed, born in India, arrived in Scotland aged 21 and worked as a bus conductor before moving into the service industry and winning a seat on Glasgow City Council.

They have also paid their respects to Sir Neil, who died from cancer at the age of 67, was the son of SNP founder John MacCormick and an SNP veteran.

He served as an Edinburgh University law professor for 36 years and a Nationalist MEP from 1999 to 2004.