Runciman on the Union and Devolution

David Runciman’s review of The British Constitution by Anthony King in the London Review of Books is well worth a read in itself:

So whatever honeyed words might be spoken about devolution effecting a shift from yah-boo, winner-takes-all politics at Westminster to something more accommodating and consensual stemming from the Celtic fringes, the fact is there is no consensus between the different political systems that the British constitution now contains. Moreover, when English politicians eventually reach their own consensus on what to do about the inequities of devolution, it seems likely to bring the different bits of the Union into direct confrontation.

That "eventually" implies a consensus or decision that will be reached in the long rather than short-term. The the problem is that Salmond and the SNP are working the English like puppets on a string and it is in the narrow selfish interests of the self-proclaimed Party of the Union, the Tories, to take advantage of the resultant and increasing wave of English resentment. We’re going to see Cameron moving on this sooner rather than later and when he does, the pressure on the original architects of the devolution experiment to fall into line will be too great to resist. The time for the true Unionists within the Conservative Party to stand up and be counted may well be soon approaching.