EVER since the signing of the Auld Alliance with France in 1295, it has been part of Scotland’s culture that we see ourselves as good Europeans.

Yet it has only been in the last year since the EU referendum was won by the Leavers that Scotland has been able to start a serious attempt to build diplomatic and political relations with the other countries of the EU.

Prior to that, successive Scottish Governments had tried to win friends and influence people across Europe but in a sotto voce fashion, as foreign affairs are very much a reserved matter for Westminster.

After the Brexit vote a year ago, within a few days the Scottish Parliament voted to begin a programme of reaching out to other member states and EU institutions. Only the Tories in Holyrood did not vote for it.

SNP MSP Joan McAlpine said at the time: “Today, our national Parliament spoke with a strong and united voice — making absolutely clear that Scotland’s vote must be respected and Scotland’s place in Europe must be protected.”

The First Minister set up a standing council on how to keep Scotland in Europe and its highly expert membership includes David Martin, the longest-serving Labour MEP. Behind the scenes Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs, and her staff began a long series of meetings with ambassadors and ministers from across the EU, with perhaps around 100 such engagements.

She recently said: “In terms of the number, we’ve had a considerable number of meetings. We don’t press release every meeting that we have. That’s not particularly wise or appropriate in what we do.”

December saw the publication of Scotland’s Place in Europe which attempted to define the new era of international relations for Scotland. It was well received in Scotland and across Europe, but landed with a dull thud on desks at Westminster and Whitehall and was promptly kicked into the recycling bin. For there is one overwhelming problem for the Scottish Government as it tries to tell Europe and the world that Scotland voted against Brexit and wants to stay in the single market and customs union at least – the Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May isn’t listening.

It is that issue which has engaged the mind of Professor Michael Keating of Aberdeen University, Scotland’s leading academic in the field of international politics. In his latest blog published ahead of today’s first anniversary of the Leave vote, he points out that the General Election did not go the way that both the Tories and the SNP wanted. He wrote: “Both the UK and Scottish Governments ‘won’ their elections in the sense of emerging as the largest parties but neither gained the political endorsement they were seeking.

“An independence referendum is off the table for the time being but the issue of Scotland’s place in the UK and Europe is not.

“There is support across the parties for safeguarding Scotland’s economic interests, a more generous policy on European workers and ensuring that key powers coming back from Europe will go to Holyrood rather than to Westminster.

“The SNP have lost political support but, as the third party in a hung parliament, gained political leverage. The Scottish Conservatives, now that their independence fox has been shot, may have to adopt clearer positions and distance themselves from hard Brexit.

“Scottish Labour has the opportunity to strike a distinct position, given UK Labour’s ambivalence over free movement and the single market. If both of these happen, then the distinctive Scottish element in UK politics will survive the setback to the SNP.”

The most important international relations that Scotland has are with the other nations in these islands, and the proposed alliance between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Conservatives gives him cause for concern.

He wrote: “It risks creating a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, which remains in the EU and single market as the UK leaves.

“To square the circle, the DUP and UK Conservatives have promised a ‘frictionless’ border but nobody has explained what this means.

“The Conservatives’ proposed deal with the DUP further strains the settlement. That depends on the UK being, along with the Irish Government, an honest broker between nationalists and Unionists. “Whatever the arrangement between the DUP and the Conservatives, that is difficult to reconcile with such impartiality. Should negotiations on restoring the Executive fail and direct rule be installed, that creates an even more obvious conflict of interest.”

Keating concludes: “With a hung parliament and concerns about the impact of Brexit in Wales and London, it is unlikely that the ‘UK approach’ can simply be imposed by the UK Government.

“The failure of the UK Conservatives to secure their mandate reopens the question not only of what sort of Brexit we will have but of the future of the United Kingdom itself.”