would be political difficulties. Wales: at the outset, and in a low turn-out, the Welsh electorate only just voted in favour of devolution. The lethal mismanagement that the Welsh government has inflicted on the health service will not have increased public enthusiasm. Would Welsh voters want to reward failure with greatly enhanced scope for future failure?

Ulster: the political class enjoys playing at parliaments, with the resulting perquisites. But a majority of Unionist voters would prefer full integration with the UK and would be uneasy about any change that appeared to increase their separation from London.

England: some English voters might resent the need to make fundamental changes to placate those grievance-mongering Scots. Many others, especially Tories, would welcome the prospect of an English Parliament, especially if they thought it would bring the arguments to an end. But that would not happen.

Scotland: the SNP would grab anything on offer, while demanding more and intensifying their programme of rolling blackmail. Nothing short of full independence will satisfy the Nats. In the meantime, they would use additional powers to highlight their differences from England, whatever the cost in misgovernment. In a federalised Scotland, the SNP would continue to undermine the education system while wrecking the Highlands and the Scottish economy. A broken Labour Party would offer no resistance. Indeed, Labour survivors would join the Nats in plundering the rest of Scotland to subsidise higher welfare payments in a de facto nationalist and socialist coalition.

In the short term, all this might boost the English economy as businesses moved south and any Scots with get up and go, got up and went. But that would be a tragic end to the triumphs of Great Britain. All in all, federalism cannot be the answer because it cannot eliminate the Nationalist threat.

Fortunately, there is an alternative: a federal Scotland. Despite the Nats’ insistence that anyone who is not with them is against Scotland, the reality is much subtler. The Scottish national identity is a wonderful amalgam. There is Glasgow, but also Edinburgh, plus the Borders, the Highlands, the Islands. We have the East Coast and the West Coast; football Scotland, rugby Scotland; Catholic Scotland and Protestant Scotland. There is a glorious landscape, some almost equally glorious townscapes; it has a magnificent military tradition; a history with many sad passages and plenty of splendid ones. Such riches on all sides – anyone wishing to contemplate the kaleidoscope of the human condition could start in Scotland.

It would be absurd to allow the Nats to reject all aspects of this great nation that do not fit in to their narrow aims, and there is an alternative. Announce that in a future referendum any parts of Scotland that are contiguous to England and vote to stay in the UK will be permitted to do so. So would other Unionist regions large enough to be free-standing, while Orkney and Shetland could have Channel Isles status. At a stroke, this would crush any illusion that an independent Scotland could be economically viable.

Over the past few months, the Nats have had far too many concessions, far too much appeasement. It’s time for realism.