Thank you, Scotland
We’re glad that you decided to stay with us and keep the UK united.
Now we have to deliver on the promise to devolve significant extra powers to the Scottish Parliament, but we also have to rethink the whole distribution of power in our four nations – including England – and how the Westminster parliament will work in the future.
You had a great debate and a fantastic turnout – and fortunately a clear decision. Now let’s spread that invigoration of democratic debate to the whole of the UK and be radical and fair in our political reforms.
September 21st, 2014 at 3:31 am
It’s been so interesting to follow. I’m relieved at the outcome (I admit to being heavily influence by The Guardian and a certain blog!).
Are you optimistic the timetable for change that Gordon Brown has spoken of will be followed? How will this impact on next year’s election and vice-versa?
Nadine.
September 21st, 2014 at 11:24 am
Gosh, Nadine, there are now so many questions to be answered and nobody knows how this is all going to work out.
As you know, I’m generally an optimist, so I’m hoping the Brown timetable for Scotland can be delivered, but I believe that new constitutional arrangements for the rest of the UK will take longer. It would make sense to work all this out as a constitutional package, but the political reality is that we must honour the specific pledges to the Scots first.
I was lecturing to a Chinese delegation this week about the British political system and I pointed out that the Scottish referendum debate is one example of a debate around the world about the continued relevance and role of the nation state.
In the history of humankind, the notion of the nation state is quite recent – say, the last 200-300 years. Before that, we had empires for millennia.
Today power is flowing away from nation states – upwards to organisations like the European Union, the World Trade Organisation and multinational corporations and downwards to regions and cities which in so many countries want more power or even separation.