UNFITTED SOLUTIONS: One thing we may see happening more often in UK politics has long been a feature in Irish politics where referendums are constitutionally de rigueur, and that is the problem of what happens when the contagious politics of the big idea meets small politics of administration.
Just how serious is the new stand-off between Westminster and Holyrood over a referendum on Scottish independence? I take the view that it’s largely shadow boxing. The two governments will do a deal in the end, even though there’s quite a way to go before it’s clinched. Many believe Cameron boobed badly yesterday by trying to dictate terms.The Guardian covered the other view which holds that it was a bold wheeze from the Chancellor George Osborne. Salmond picked up the gauntlet …
David Cameron has hugely raised the stakes over Scottish independence by planning to give the Scottish Parliament legal powers to hold a binding referendum, provided it takes place within a tighter time frame than that envisaged by the SNP government. See the chess analysis by the doyen of Scots commentators Magnus Linklater in the Times (£, unfortunately) If this were a game of chess, the Prime Minister would probably be judged to have used yesterday the King’s Indian …
So Scotland enacts the Calman report (aka the Scotland Bill), that drops in . That it is brought in by a Conservative (not all of whom are happy campers, btw) Lib Dem coalition that fought tooth and nail over a political generation (or more) against, is an irony not lost on Peter Curran, who notes John Curtice’s remarks: …their [the SNP] victory in 2007 forced the Labour Party in particular to re-think its attitude towards devolution, to work together with …
