DAVID Cameron gave the strongest pledge yet to extending Holyrood's powers, not as a "consolation prize" for Alex Salmond after a Yes vote but as "the right thing to do."
Addressing his party's Scottish conference in Edinburgh the Prime Minister insisted: "Let me be absolutely clear. A vote for no is not a vote for no change.
"We are committed to making devolution work better still, not because we want to give Alex Salmond a consolation prize if Scotland votes no but because it's the right thing to do.
"Giving the Scottish Parliament greater responsibility for raising more of the money it spends -- that's what Ruth believes (Scottish leader Ruth Davidson) and I believe it too.
"So here's the re-cap: Vote yes - that is total separation. Vote no, that can mean further devolution, more power to the Scottish people and their parliament but with the crucial insurance policy that comes with being part of our UK."
It was a speech more to the wider electorate outside the hall. Inside, a big majority almost certainly do not want more powers for Holyrood, and they may note he said "can" mean further devolution rather than "will".
But there is no doubt there is an unaccustomed spring in the step of those attending a Scottish Tory conference because for once this year they have the prospect of victory. With but a single Westminster seat, and with hanging on to their single European seat the best they can hope for this summer, September's referendum gives them their best hope in years for a favourable outcome.
Mr Cameron continued recent practice of playing good cop to his Chancellor's bad cop routine. This speech was much more of an exercise in love-bombing the Scots than threatening them. He called it "a big, generous, positive argument for our UK," and while his references to First World War sacrifice may not be to everyone's taste it was of a piece with his "family of nations" theme.
There was also a powerful reminder why Andy Murray is so keen to keep his views on the referendum to himself. Comments by Eve Muirhead after the Scottish curlers won an Olympic medal for Team GB saw here elevated to Tory poster girl in the Prime Minister's speech.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article