Support for Scottish independence traditionally languished at 30% but some opinion polls now indicate almost 50% and we are headed towards a referendum in 2014.  Many business people regard this as something they could well do without.  For SME companies it will divert political attention from more pressing issues.  However, for larger companies the inevitable uncertainty could easily trigger thoughts of relocation.  In a classic re-run of the Devolution debate, Independence – or Devo-Max – will be difficult to argue against without being accused of denigrating the Scottish nation.  Consequently many people who are uncomfortable with this concept will find it difficult to speak out against it.  A referendum in 2014 will solve nothing, it will merely signal the start of an extended, expensive and traumatic process.  The case against breaking up the UK has still to be made, but correcting some obvious constitutional imbalances could well avoid this painful and unnecessary episode altogether.

The SNP bandwagon rolls on relentlessly sweeping all before it.  Not only are the other parties failing to hold them to account, they would appear to be paralysed – caught in the headlights of the SNP juggernaut. However, the Scottish National Party received only 23% of the potential vote.  The inevitable result of this is that many Scots feel that they no longer have a political party that represents their interests or reflects their beliefs.

An excellent article by Brian Monteith in The Scotsman looks at some of the myths and assumptions about devolution that have shown to be untrue:

What say you now, Lord Robertson? It was back in 1995 that the then un-enobled George Robertson, shadow secretary of state for Scotland, said "devolution will kill nationalism stone dead". This little ditty went along with other ridiculous notions of the MacChattering classes, such as devolution would revive the Tories in Scotland, and a Scottish Parliament would be different (code for better) than Westminster.