Thread by @GeorgePeretzKC

An obviously fatal problem with @danielmgmoylan’s point is that the only viable alternative (independence) is one that he objects to even more.

But the point exhibits a peculiarly English Tory type of constitutional reductionism. Many, if not most, federal or devolved systems exhibit a constant tension between central and sub-central units, and constant bargaining over powers.

That can be healthy: political tension and conflict, and divided power, is often a good thing. Read Machiavelli or the Federalist Papers.

Of course federalism/devolution can be a platform for separatism (Quebec. Catalonia.) But no one serious suggests that a centralised solution in either country would have prevented separatism or that reversing federalism is a solution.

The view that any check to the power over the whole UK of a majority at Westminster obtained on a minority of the vote is “instability and uncertainty” is the mixture of cod Hobbes and Dicey that seems to have taken over the modern Tory party’s attitude to the constitution.