The polls put the Yes vote as low as 32 per cent, indicating that the Scots needed no extra inducements to stay in the Union, and the issue of independence would be shelved for a generation. Wrong and wrong. The final result was a No, but reworking the UK’s constitutional order will soak up political energy for years to come. As Malcolm Chalmers writes in our cover story, the world may no longer see Britain as an island of political stability but as a polity racked by uncertainty as it grapples with devolution at home and its relationship with the European Union.
UK after the vote
In August few people – least of all me – imagined that the Scottish independence referendum would become a significant international issue.
