The Vow’s lack of detail is coming back to bite the Unionist parties

The devil is in the lack of detail for No vote parties.

We’ve only just begun. Why is that Carpenters’ hit going through my heid as I survey the post-referendum political landscape?

Aye, I have “got over it”. Aye, I realise 55% of Scots voted to stay in the UK. Aye, I accept the Yes campaign lost the battle for independence. But it seems to be winning the peace.

It’s strange but true that the winners on Sept 18th are on the back foot. In Scotland, Labour are in “self-harming” meltdown at the polls. The Lib Dems are polling less than the Greens.

And the Tories are too busy fighting off UKIP in England to notice what’s happening north of the Border.

But there’s plenty going on, thanks to the Vow that mocked-up letter in which Unionist party leaders vowed to deliver “substantial new powers” to the Scottish Government.

I’m sure the Three Tenors thought it was smart to make that promise as vague as possible. Now the lack of detail is coming home to bite them.

If nothing was ruled in then nothing was ruled out either. Right? Well, that’s the way thousands of Scots have viewed it.

Like me, they crafted a submission to Lord Smith’s “What Next” Commission listing the powers a Home Rule Scotland would need to reflect our distinctive political culture, avoid Tory spending and benefit cuts, invest in energy projects the UK doesn’t rate (like subsea cables to our energy-rich islands) and tackle inequality with a proper living wage.

At first I thought there was no point in writing. The parties on Lord Smith’s Commission are poles apart last week I called them the liquorice allsorts of Scottish politics.

Any plan will be too radical for David Cameron but too timorous for Nicola Sturgeon.

No matter how clever the submissions or adept Lord Bob’s negotiating skills, a dusty top shelf seems to beckons for his report. So why bother?

But on Friday a blogger pointed out that public support for Home Rule (Scots running everything but foreign affairs and defence) will partly be measured by the number of folk who decided to act.

She was right so I got cracking. And I wasn’t alone.

The SNP’s leader in waiting, Nicola Sturgeon opened up a new front in the “more powers” debate with a bold ultimatum to Just Call Me Dave.

She told a capacity crowd at the first event of her stadium tour that any referendum in favour of leaving the European Union must have the clear support of all UK nations.

That means the Scots could stymy a Euro Cheerio if we continue to buck the trend and back EU reform not a hasty exit.

Does that have any chance of success? Yes it does. A poll in February showed Scotland is the only part of the UK in favour of staying in the European Union.

Of course we want reform and an end to MEPs traipsing from Brussels to Strasbourg to soothe French egos. But generally, Scots don’t want Splendid Isolation from fair-minded Europeans.

It just sounds like another way for Westminster Tories to rule the roost.

So can Nicola enforce a Euro referendum McVeto? If Scots wore “I love Brussels” T-shirts till Christmas and beyond, would the blindest bit of difference sprout? Maybe.

If David Cameron doesn’t want Indyref Two, he has to take Devo Max seriously. That means each member of the British “family” must be heard on big issues not just the biggest and loudest.

An unlikely scenario. But the Vow signatories must show they will respect national differences from now on. Otherwise it’ll be Yesterday Once More.