Scotland will remain part of the UK, but for how long?

The final results of a referendum on Scottish independence were announced. Scotland has voted against becoming an independent country by 55% to 45%...
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For now, that means it will continue to form an integral part of the UK - but for Scottish devolution, the process of granting powers from Westminster to the Scottish parliament, it's far from business as usual. The focus will now be on how the UK government delivers its promise of more powers for the Scottish parliament, based at Holyrood, Edinburgh.
Ok, there was the precedent. What would be the next?
I believe that the fact that the forum was held, regardless of the result, is a strong reason for the wave of similar events across Europe. It is possible that Quebec will pick up wave too. How do you think?

Simon Feltser said:

The final results of a referendum on Scottish independence were announced. Scotland has voted against becoming an independent country by 55% to 45%...
Watch results
View attachment 67173189

For now, that means it will continue to form an integral part of the UK - but for Scottish devolution, the process of granting powers from Westminster to the Scottish parliament, it's far from business as usual. The focus will now be on how the UK government delivers its promise of more powers for the Scottish parliament, based at Holyrood, Edinburgh.
Ok, there was the precedent. What would be the next?
I believe that the fact that the forum was held, regardless of the result, is a strong reason for the wave of similar events across Europe. It is possible that Quebec will pick up wave too. How do you think?

Click to expand...

The referendum came about as a result of many decades work - Scotland has had devolution for quite some time now and the referendum only came about as a result of the SNP then gaining power in the Scottish government. I don't know that this background is echoed in many other situations...

Simon Feltser said:

The final results of a referendum on Scottish independence were announced. Scotland has voted against becoming an independent country by 55% to 45%...
Watch results
View attachment 67173189

For now, that means it will continue to form an integral part of the UK - but for Scottish devolution, the process of granting powers from Westminster to the Scottish parliament, it's far from business as usual. The focus will now be on how the UK government delivers its promise of more powers for the Scottish parliament, based at Holyrood, Edinburgh.
Ok, there was the precedent. What would be the next?
I believe that the fact that the forum was held, regardless of the result, is a strong reason for the wave of similar events across Europe. It is possible that Quebec will pick up wave too. How do you think?

Click to expand...

Nah. Any hopes of resurgence the Quebec separatists may have had were pretty much torpedoed by Pauline Marois. Quebec separatism is a dead horse.

Probably the right decision on the part of Scotland voters, the call to be "independent" was not all that independent anyway.

Simon Feltser said:

The final results of a referendum on Scottish independence were announced. Scotland has voted against becoming an independent country by ......

For now, that means it will continue to form an integral part of the UK - but for Scottish devolution, the process of granting powers from Westminster to the Scottish parliament, it's far from business as usual. The focus will now be on how the UK government delivers its promise of more powers for the Scottish parliament, based at Holyrood, Edinburgh.
Ok, there was the precedent. What would be the next?
I believe that the fact that the forum was held, regardless of the result, is a strong reason for the wave of similar events across Europe. It is possible that Quebec will pick up wave too. How do you think?

Click to expand...

that will make it easier on Cameron, the EU politicians and bureaucrats and on the population that would have had to deal with a depression in the short run and a sigh of relief will go up in a number of capitals across Europe. Not that it helps Ukrainians nor will it prevent other minorities from demanding referenda.

Also it gives no answer to the problem that given the abdication of sovereignty that the treaties of Lisbon and Maastricht mean, there is no real rational to maintaining national capitals like Berlin or Madrid. Valentia or Stuttgart can handle the local governing and the population can easily vote for parliamentarians for Straßburg. Also the vote of a citizen of smaller member states carry more weight so that the citizen is better represented than his counterpart from a large country.
Removing a layer of government makes a lot of sense in the EU. The problem is that at least in Germany and France the theory goes that the nationas are sovereign and would thus be lost if the national governments went. That would be illegal at present.