Alex Salmond may be set to retire as SNP leader and First Minister, but to the pro-UK parties, he has already become the spectre at the feast.

Despite saying that in his view there could be no further independence referendum for a generation, he set out yesterday to float the idea that independence could in fact be achieved through a parliamentary route as soon as May 2016, with the next Holyrood election effectively becoming another referendum on independence. He followed that through by insisting, somewhat pre-emptively, that voters had been "tricked" by the Westminster leaders who had promised greater powers for a devolved Scotland within a set timetable.

The premise that a Holyrood vote on the choice of government to administer health, education and other devolved matters in Scotland should double as a single-issue referendum - only 18 months after an actual referendum on the issue of independence produced a decisive result - must be challenged. Mr Salmond presumes a great deal if he believes voters would have patience for such a tactic. For a party that has won two Holyrood elections after insisting Scots could back the SNP even if they did not support independence, it would mark an astonishing U-turn.

As for Mr Salmond's comment that over 55s had "impeded progress" by voting No, the suggestion may well cause resentment among older voters.

On the matter of doubts over the future timetable of devolving further powers to Scotland, however, his attempts to exploit voter fears are not surprising, given the Prime Minister's unexpected move to link English votes for English laws with the matter of greater Scottish devolution.

The Prime Minister's words have caused genuine alarm and understandably provoked a chorus of protest from Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs and MSPs.

All three UK party leaders, including Mr Cameron, have insisted the timetable will be met, but in an apparent attempt to dispel uncertainty, especially given the Prime Minister's backbencher trouble on the issue, Conservative chairman Grant Shapps and Downing Street itself have now categorically reconfirmed that the progress of greater devolution for Scotland will not in fact be contingent on the progress of reform for England.

The Conservative Party must now stick to that very public promise because if it does not, the consequences will be huge. The SNP has made abundantly clear that it intends not to let its hopes of independence die even for a weekend. That should set alarm bells ringing once again in Downing Street just as it has in the Labour party which appears to be suffering the fall-out of last week's vote. The SNP claim to have signed up 9,000 new members, with some likely to have arrived there from Scottish Labour.

It is not in the interests of the rest of the UK to rush through wider constitutional change. Scots have been debating their position in the UK for at least 30 years and having a detailed discussion about independence for the last two. There have been three commissions, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative, on greater devolution for Scotland.

Trying to shoehorn complex constitutional reform for England, Wales and Northern Ireland into a six-month period, is fraught with risk. Rushed legislation tends to be poor legislation.

The priority for all three parties must be to keep their promises to Scots. The rest can wait.