Remeber when Labour had a 20 point lead in the all the polls? That would have been not long before Kinnock became PM.....if the Tories gain the lead in the next GE campaign the gnats will be the beneficiaries. As things stand just now, a GE would probably result in at least a dozen seats lost by labour and at least 7 lost by the glib-dumbs and they'll all go to the gnats.
Of course things may yet go pera-shaped for the Salmondistas, but I would n't hold my breath. if I had a quid for every time I've heard that the wheels have come off the SNP bandwagon I'd not be worried about my pension.
Labour is not in a happy position really. If the 'No' campaign is guided by Darling, Lamont and Osborne against Salmond, Robertson and Canavan it'll be weak at best and disastrous at worst.
If Labour want to be the winners in the referendum they will need to offer something worth voting for - the current Scotland Act may seem significant to MPs, but nobody else is impressed. The first unionist party to opt for FFA will reap the benefits of offering the electorate what the electorate wants as opposed to what politicians would like them to want. If the tories were smart they'd do it right now(and adopt a seriously libertarian approach to civil liberties) and then they'd be on their way to challenging Labour to be the second party in Scottish politics...it's way too late for the glib-dumbs. Carmichael is safe in his seat, Kennedy might win a seat and Campbell will hang on to his if he does not retire, but the rest of them are toast.

Labour still doesn't listen to the folk in Scotland and until they do, Milliband won't get a look in. Interesting how your article barely mentioned Johann Lamont or any of the Scottish MSPs - as ever, very londonocentric and totally missing the point! Why would scottish labour voters revert to a party which ignores its core values? It supports neo-liberal policies and Trident to placate the South East of England. If Labour were true to Scotland, it would be supporting at least more powers for Holyrood.

"This means that if the prospect of an extended period of Tory rule continues to deteriorate over the next 18 months or so, the nationalist argument that independence is a necessary bulwark against the English right could begin to lose its force."

The trouble for Labour is that, for many Scots (and I'm fairly right wing compared to many up here) Labour *are* part of the right. Blairism was a natural heir to Thatcherism, and Labour are pro-trident, pro-market and privatisation, pro-war, pro-student fees etc, etc.

Another issue for all the unionst parties is that they are several years too late to the debate. When the SNP won in 2005, they could have taken part in the debate with the Scottish public and civic Scotland that the SNP set up at that time. Instead they chose to all retreat into a unionist/Westminster coalition to try and frustrate good governance (especially bad of the Lib Dems, who’s manifesto was almost entirely identical to the SNPs and included full fiscal autonomy). This opposition Westminster coalition didn’t join the debate, but instead pushed through Calman and the Scotland Bill, which has no support here.

In 2011, when they were rewarded for those tactics with a landslide SNP victory, they could then have started listening and crafting a position within the debate. Again, they didn’t, but have chosen instead to hammer Salmond for listening, and being willing to look at devo-max, full fiscal autonomy as a democratic option.

The article says Labour should commit “to fully modernise the British constitutional system, including fiscal autonomy for Scotland and significant new powers for the Welsh assembly”. Sorry, but under what democratic mandate? We’re having the debate now, and the referendum in 2014. That’s what Labour should have done several years ago, rather than be in a status quo Westminster coalition. The window for them to do that before 2014, so it can be put to the Scottish people democratically, is rapidly closing. What they can’t do is knock Salmond for being willing to consider that option now, say it’s impossible, refuse to discuss it, and veto it's including in the referendum. Then say they might impose it through Westminster later with no further referendum, but only if enough people in England vote for them. Or at least, they can, but if that's what they're relying on Scottish people to vote "no" for, they shouldn't get their hopes up.

What a load of rubbish, you poor poor put upon Scots by we wicked wicked English. For 8.8% of the entire UK population you certainly squack the loudest! Closely followed by the Welsh Nationalists, who make up 4% of the UK population.

You don't even notice the irony of this gabble about English tyranny when we are on our third Scottish PM of the UK in a roll. That the last Labour UK Government's Cabinet was dominated by Scots who had all signed the Scottish Claim of Right in which they pledged to put the interests of Scotland above all others! As with the Welsh armchair warrior yesterday bellowing about English oppression, when asked by the presenter to name any oppression since Edward and his gang built the Castles was suddenly struck dumb.

If your two "nations" want your independence, the surest way to get it is to allow we the English to vote on it but you don't want it really, who else would you blame for your woes!

As for Rick Mccallister, why I would never have guessed that your were a Yank with your towering intellect nearly matching Mitt the twit!

wish i lived in an independent Scotland

Labour may be having a revival, but it's not happening in Scotland. The latest poll shows Labour's vote down and the SNP's up. Therefore this piece is nothing short of fantasy.

James Maxwell as usual makes some reasonable points. However, what will not be forgotten is how weak and hypocritical Labour opposition to the horrendous onslaught that has come from what is clearly an extremely right wing government. Truth is, Labour believes much of the same stuff but isn't quite as extreme with it.
Kenelmist is right. It would be just about impossible not to improve on what has come before