The result was closer than the Westminster parties would have liked, but farther apart than I hoped. It was, and is, important for them to feel the heat. I’ve been arguing for a review of the distribution of powers in the United Kingdom. Nothing like the independence referendum is going to be happen again in the near future, and the temptation will be for Westminster – and the Treasury in particular – to retain all the powers they can. That needs to be resisted, because it’s the wrong way to go about it. What the UK needs is a root-and-branch examination of the constitution. Some services are clearly national – the defence forces and the Foreign Office. There are good reasons for common financial regulation, national rates of the major benefits, a national minimum wage. There are arguments for integrating some issues that are currently partly devolved – transport, communications and energy. And there are other policies that ought to be devolved: examples are economic development, employment provision (which needs to be uncoupled from benefits) and housing. I’ll be developing arguments about benefits and housing over the next few weeks.
And might I add IMHO that if IDS had held back on the poor bashing he indulges in there could have been a slightly different vote in Glasgow…