Gordon Brown, who many credit for saving the Union, now warns that it is again in peril. He sights various details to do with tax powers and votes for English MPs on English issues. He may well be right to warn, but the risk is deeper than the detail. It is about a cultural and political gap opening up between a largely Tory England and Scotland whose politics and social anchor has always been to the left. Scotland has always seen value in collective endeavour and the value of community in the social structure. Its clan system is founded in these notions. England places its faith in the primacy of the individual. These differences pull the two nations apart more than the ramifications of policy or governance. The more hostile England becomes to the EU, the more the Scots value it. England is determined to keep Trident. Scotland, which hosts it, wants it gone. England pursues austerity as a valid political philosophy; Scotland rejects it.
There is no doubt that the independence issue was not resolved with any finality by the referendum. It is not yet clear if there will be another or when or indeed what would trigger a demand for another try. We can be sure that a vote to leave the EU would be a game changer. But so might the revival of a Labour party with its roots to the left. Time will tell.
