David Cameron should get the Scots on board over EU

DAVID Cameron, the UK prime minister, achieved an unexpected election victory on May 7. After the euphoria, the scale of his challenges is becoming clearer. Mr Cameron realises that Scotland and the European Union will dominate his second premiership. He can make one bold move to realise his goals. He should ask the Scottish Nationalist Party, with 56 of the 59 Scottish seats in the House of Commons, to join the UK's team in Brussels to help Britain negotiate EU reforms ahead of a membership referendum.

To have the SNP - most probably represented by Alex Salmond, the party's senior statesman and foreign affairs spokesman - alongside George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, in these talks would serve several purposes. First, it would give substance to Mr Cameron's promise that he will "listen to the voice of Scotland", and on a matter the Scots hold dear as well as the English. Second, it would present the rest of the EU not with a narrow party line but a more rounded UK team, reinforced by Mr Salmond, still arguably one of the canniest politicians in the country. Third, assuming the talks on EU reform do not fail completely, by giving the SNP some ownership of the outcome, the Conservative government should lend extra force to its eventual campaign in support of continued EU membership.

Privately, the SNP might be horrified by the offer. It has all the makings of a trap. The party would be given responsibility without ultimate power, and would be tarred by the Conservative brush. The fate of the Liberal Democrats, whose reward for their coalition with Mr Cameron in the 2010-15 parliament was so bitter, will loom large. But equally, the party would find it very difficult to turn down the offer and publicly spurn the chance to help shape Scotland's relationship with the EU.