Well the brave new world which I anticipated in my last column is with us.

Agreement on the fiscal framework between the UK and Scottish Governments has given the green light to the Scotland Bill. The Scottish Parliament is now set to become one of the most powerful devolved legislatures in the world.

Already the waters are starting to clear. Labour and the Lib Dems will put a penny on income tax for everyone.

Those at the higher end of earnings will grin and bear it. Those at the lower end of earnings will certainly feel the pinch. The Conservatives do not propose to increase income tax and we believe that Scotland should not have higher tax rates than the rest of the UK. The SNP? Well the silence is deafening.

We don’t know but they can’t hide for long so watch this space.

We hear a lot about government but what about opposition? Winston Churchill astutely observed, “A kite flies against the wind, not with it.”

In the Scottish Parliament this week I saw at first hand the need for good opposition. Opposition is not about talking a good game, it is about taking the attack to government, challenging, calling to account, exposing flaws and weakness. The Scottish Conservatives did that in spades.

The Scottish Government has just passed one of the most inept and ill conceived bills I have seen in my 17 years in the Scottish Parliament, the University Governance Bill.

It’s a shocker. Firstly not even the Scottish Government could explain what was wrong that needed to be fixed. Our universities are world class, punching above their weight, self governing and a success story.

But the Scottish Government wanted to interfere, proposed a power for ministerial intervention, put at risk the charitable status of our universities, laid down which groups must be represented on the Court (the management board) and declared that the Chairman must be elected by everyone within the university.

The recipe for conflict between a Chairman accountable to voters and the rest of the Board doing what was best for the institution were dismissed. The proposals were met with huge hostility by the universities, business, industry and elements of civic Scotland. When challenged, the Scottish Government could produce no model of corporate governance like this anywhere in the world.

The Conservatives led the fight and the ministerial intervention and risk to charitable status provisions were removed.

The defective rump of a bill which remained should have been consigned to the dustbin.

It engineers weak leadership, confusion and division into governance, unbelievable.The Scottish Government was unrepentant, it is now law. Unbelievably Labour followed the SNP like nodding lapdogs.

The Scottish Parliament needs opposition like never before. The Scottish Conservatives will proudly fly that kite.