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Substance to the big debate

ONLY 24 hours after David Cameron and Alex Salmond engaged in face-to-face discussion, if not exactly negotiation, on the referendum on Scottish independence, the first signs of a move from questions of process to substance are beginning to emerge.

The Prime Minister's surprise suggestion that a vote in favour of the Union could bring an extension of devolution placed the question of further powers for the Scottish Parliament short of independence squarely at the centre of the debate and changed its focus.