Home Rule will swiftly follow a vote for No

Its key conclusion, that Scotland's future will be best served by Home Rule, but within a re-modelled federal United Kingdom, is at one with my Liberal view of how we should govern ourselves.

Such an outcome is now only one vote away. If Scotland votes "no thanks", as I fervently hope will be the case, then Home Rule will swiftly follow.

Events of the past few days have dealt a hammer blow to Alex Salmond's drive to separation.

His economic "Black Wednesday" was the start of a wave of major companies spelling out the severe risks of independence.

As The Herald editorial set out, the nationalists have failed to make the economic case for separation beyond reasonable doubt and we have all now seen a foretaste of the consequences.

That their economic case for independence has collapsed under the weight of reality will be enough for some. But there is another serious flaw in the way they think about Scotland.

They talk about Scotland as if it were one homogenous place. In their rhetoric, they talk about it as if the needs of people and communities across our country were the same.

But Scotland is a diverse country. The problems and needs of those of us in the Highlands and Islands are very different from the issues in the Borders or Glasgow.

This diversity is hugely important to Scotland yet nationalism homogenises and blurs these differences.

The SNP track record in government shows that their cry of "more power for Scotland" has actually ended up being 'more power for Holyrood'.

Power has been centralised, communities stripped of influence and control.

Federalism means that each level of government should have its own defined responsibilities, and the ability to provide the resources needed to carry out those functions.

Each area of responsibility should be at the lowest level consistent with effective government. So local government, Holyrood, the UK Government and the EU each has roles to play in our lives.

It is right that EU countries should work together to tackle environmental pollution, or use our greater collective strength to negotiate trade deals.

The referendum debate has clearly demonstrated, for example, that defence, macro-economic and monetary policy are best exercised through a political and fiscal union at UK level.

Being part of a wider UK market keeps costs down and ensures stability.

As just one example, the SNP decision to centralise policing powers in one central force has been shown to be a catastrophic misjudgment.

In the new settlement for Scotland, after a No vote, communities need to be given power back, especially in the Highlands and Islands where our distinctive economic institutions have been gutted by the nationalists.

Scottish Liberal Democrats are proud of the central part we played in establishing the Scottish Parliament, and of our decisive role in ensuring that the largest act of fiscal devolution since 1707 was one of the first laws passed by the UK Coalition Government.

But we need to go a lot further, empowering the Scottish Parliament with further revenue-raising power and greater control over welfare and back-to-work support; a Home Rule parliament with control of our domestic affairs and financially self-supporting, too.

Most people in Scotland want change. A "no thanks" vote is the best way to deliver that change safely, swiftly, and securely, without the economic turmoil a Yes vote would bring.

All parties are committed to a tight timetable for delivering more powers for a stronger Scotland.

A federal solution for Scotland would also be a beacon for the wider reform that the UK constitution needs.

That is what Liberals have campaigned for since William Ewart Gladstone first called for "home rule all round" more than 100 years ago.

And I am in no doubt that The Herald will be unrelenting in holding all involved to account until that is delivered.