William Hague tells delegates the Tories' day in Scotland is dawning

Mr Hague claimed a reborn Tory Party in Scotland could successfully challenge both Labour and the SNP as the only party committed to making the Scottish parliament work.

He said Tories who warned of the perils of devolution had failed to persuade Scots who voted for a Scottish parliament.

But that battle was now over, he declared to the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Glasgow.

Mr Hague said: "The Scottish parliament will now become the focus for political debate in this country. We owe it to our supporters and to the people of Scotland to make that parliament a success."

Trojan horse

He said Tories were not abandoning the union but working to keep it together.

He told the conference: "We must fight to see that our fears about the Scottish parliament are not realised. We must fight to ensure that the Scottish parliament is not to be used as a Trojan horse for nationalism."

He used the speech to attack Labour, depicting it as a left-wing party which took Scotland for granted, betrayed its promises to the Scottish people, was kept in a "Stalinist" grip by its London high command.

Mr Hague said: "We have a great opportunity to turn defeat into victory, to rebuild our party's political fortunes, to reconnect with Scotland and to rediscover the will to win."

Mr Hague said the party now had the chance to overturn past defeat

In a savage attack on Labour's year in office at Westminster, he accused them of breaking promises on issues like taxes, waiting lists and education, and sought to pin the "crisis" in Labour-run Scottish councils on Mr Blair.

Mr Hague insisted that only Scottish Tories could mount an effective fight against the SNP.

He said: "The SNP call themselves Scotland's future, but the truth is that the SNP are Scotland's dinosaurs."

"Their hard-left policies were discredited long ago - bash-the-rich taxes, high inflation, re-nationalisation, heavy government regulation, unilateral nuclear disarmament.

"They belong in the Jurassic Park of political ideas."

He sought to depict the Tories as the only party in touch with Scottish instincts which had stayed true to its principles, whose candidates and policies were made in Scotland, which was determined to make the Scottish parliament a success and which was resolved to keep Scotland at the heart of the UK.

Bright new policies

"We must show the people of Scotland that we are a fresh, open, involving, listening, united Conservative Party," said Mr Hague.

The speech is analysed for BBC News 24 by John Curtis of Strathclyde University

"We must show the people of Scotland that we are going to take the time and trouble to listen to them. We must show the people of Scotland that we are worthy of their support once again."

He said the Tories in Scotland would have the freedom to decide their own policies and "bright, fresh, new" policies would be in place for next year's elections.