11:53

Senior Scottish Liberal Democrats are open to a future merger with the Independent Group (TIG) of MPs, providing it establishes its liberal credentials and holds together as a cohesive force, senior sources have said.

Another key issue for senior Lib Dems in Scotland is replacing Vince Cable as UK party leader: Cable has already indicated he will step down after May’s local elections and EU withdrawal, but dissatisfaction at what his seen as his lacklustre leadership is growing.

Deeply frustrated that under Cable the party has failed to exploit Labour and Tory divisions over Brexit, and their right- and left-wards drift, some want a leadership contest quickly. Jo Swinson, the MP for East Dunbartonshire, is touted as a leading contender to replace him, as is Ed Davey, the former energy secretary.

Speculation about which Scottish politicians, particularly at Holyrood, might defect to TIG has intensified. It is not thought either Kezia Dugdale, the former Scottish Labour leader, nor Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South, are minded to jump first.

After originally being in coalition government with Labour during the first two Scottish parliaments, from 1999 to 2007, the Lib Dems are now Holyrood’s smallest party, behind the Greens, with five MSPs.

The party suffered badly from the voter backlash at Nick Clegg’s coalition with David Cameron at Westminster, losing all but one of its Commons seats, but recovered in the 2017 snap general election to take four Westminster seats.

A pact between TIG and the Lib Dems at Westminster is seen as a logical first step. Some Scottish Lib Dem MSPs, who met for their spring conference in Hamilton last Friday, think their party is the most obvious suitor for TIG at Holyrood, and should merge en masse later this year.

Others are cautious, citing nervousness about the unknowns – few Lib Dems activists know the MPs who make up TIG - but nevertheless excitement at the arrival of a new centrist party. One suggested some Lib Dems might baulk at working with the Sheffield MP Angela Smith, given Labour’s bruising campaigns against them in the city.

A source said the key questions were about funding; personalities; a coherent policy platform and seeing how Brexit unfolded. Even so, the bias is towards an eventual merger. “There is huge potential but we have an awful lot to find out first,” he said.