Scotland’s democratic moment

In this roundtable on the referendum and beyond, writers from a range of different positions look at some of the key dynamics of the campaign, and offer their take on its implications for the future of politics of Scotland - including its connections and resonances with the rest of the UK and the international context.

Scotland’s democratic moment

Scotland’s independence referendum was a watershed both for Scotland and the UK. In Scotland, democratic and political engagement has been dramatically altered. The idea of independence has become normalised and mainstream - and distinct from the SNP’s compromised version. Within the UK as a whole, the multiple and deep-seated crises of the British state have been further highlighted - which include its very nature and its role in the world. The contours of the 2015 Westminster and 2016 Scottish Parliament elections will be played out against uncertainty and doubt about the future of the union.

Post-indyref Scotland has witnessed huge changes, not least in leadership personnel. Alex Salmond is now standing for the Westminster Parliament for the third time, while New First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has made a shift to a more substantive and progressive programme of government. Meanwhile former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont stated, on his resignation, that the party north of the border had been treated as a ‘branch office’ by Ed Miliband and Westminster. New leader Jim Murphy faces the prospect of moving from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament between 2015 and 2016.

The SNP has seen a huge influx of members, and the Greens and Scottish Socialists have also seen significant increases in members, while parts of the unofficial independence movement, such as Women for Independence and Radical Independence Campaign (RIC), are bigger and stronger than ever before.

In November 2014, the Smith Commission, hastily convened by David Cameron in the wake of the referendum to discuss further measures of devolution, made a number of proposals for change, including devolving power over income tax, air passenger duty and the management and income from the Crown Estate. Though it included representation from all the main Scottish parties, the Commission’s proposals fell well short of ‘devo max’ or home rule. Any bill arising from its proposals will not go before Parliament until after the election.

The British establishment has not so far worked out how to react to Scotland post-indyref. David Cameron’s back-of-an-envelope plan has been to make a priority of legislating for English Votes for English Laws - a measure which would produce instability, while not offering any kind of democratic English voice, and reducing Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs to the status of second-class representatives.

Labour have been even more inept; they have mostly been silent, just hoping the issue will go away. Most Labour observers believe they need Scotland and its 40-plus Labour MPs if they are to have a reasonable chance, now and in the future, of securing UK office. The party which legislated devolution for Scotland now seems dumbfounded about what to do - and no more so than in relation to England and calls for decentralism to the regions, and moves towards a looser, even quasi-federal union.

In Scotland itself a host of myths have grown up post-indyref, and there is a need for further debate and challenge if the self-government and independence movement is to grow, prosper and succeed. One problem has been sectarianism on the part of some of the Yes campaign supporters. For example, when, after the vote, the handle of #the45 arose - designating the percentage share of the independence vote in the referendum - it was seen by some as a place to voice uber-partisan, vituperative views: of Jim Murphy as a ‘war criminal’, of ‘Scottish Labour as dead’, and much worse.

In reality the politics of Yes and No no longer exist beyond 18 September. But still some people find it impossible to let go of the identities that gave them such resonance in the referendum campaign. The SNP, post-vote, floated the notion of a Yes Alliance, but this...