We dared to dream ... we still do

It would be all too easy and perfectly understandable for those of us who wanted independence to be downcast after the result. But there are, as the song says, reasons to be cheerful.

The turn out was magnificent, the highest ever recorded in Scotland and indeed the UK since universal suffrage was introduced in 1918.

That speaks of a population engaged in political debate as never before and displays an enthusiasm for politics which transcends the puerile point-scoring of mainstream party politics.

The majority of those under 55 who voted put their cross in the Yes box ... showing that support for independence in any future referendum would be expected to be strong.

And two of Scotland's major cities - Glasgow and Dundee - voted Yes, sending out a strong challenge to Labour in Scotland who must now be looking at future Holyrood and local council elections with some trepidation.

Although the referendum itself is over the fight for significant constitutional change is not. Add the Yes vote to those in the No camp persuaded to give their support by the last-minute promises of Westminster leaders and there is a clear majority for just such a change, even if there is still no consensus on just what that change might be.

Yet already the bickering over what new powers Scotland should be handed is pitching the three Unionists parties at each other's throats.

Cameron's insistence on linking so-called "extensive" new powers to a new arrangement in Westminster for England and Wales is both a response to a Tory backlash to his promises and a cynical political ploy to put his Labour opponents on the back foot.

And in truth, should Cameron fail to deliver constitutional change within the timetable laid down rather bizarrely by Gordon Brown, the political cost to the Tories will be tiny.

Labour in Scotland, however, will be finished.

The Yes movement has a role to play in holding Westminster to account on their much-lauded vow, which although low on detail did include some promises which already look under threat.

Senior Tories have already suggested that the promises to maintain the Barnett Formula and to introduce a fairer system of allocating our own money to Scotland are contradictory. If that argument gains traction within the party it is not hard to imagine the Barnett Formula disappearing.

The dust had barely settled from the referendum vote when Cameron sprung his trap on Miliband, leaving Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling looking more than embarrassed. Brown may have warned that the "eyes of the world" were on the three Westminster Unionist allies but we can now see that the promises of a backbench MP have little clout with Coalition partners who have a history of breaking their word.

This newspaper believes that Alex Salmond is right when he says that Scots have been tricked into voting for No and that many of those persuaded to do so by Westminster promises will regret their decision.

Nevertheless, that decision is made and it will be some time before it can be revisited (unless the UK votes to pull out of Europe, but that argument is for another day).

It is now incumbent on those who supported Yes to do everything possible to secure the best possible deal for Scotland as quickly as possible and to face down any backlash from Westminster MPs eager to use arguments to extend the debate as a means to delay legislation - and to dilute it.

That is in the interests of the country, tempting as it might be to simply point to the Westminster tactics and say 'We told you so'.

It is also in the interests of Scotland that the political establishment does everything it can to make sure that the high levels of political engagement in Scotland does not dissipate in the wake of the referendum result.

Scotland has dared to believe and that feeling is not going away anytime soon.