Tom Griffin (London, OK): Will the Scots Ever Be Satisfied? Panorama asks at 8.30 pm on BBC One this evening in a retrospective on ten years of devolution by BBC Scotland editor Brian Taylor.
Labour's Tam Dalyell staunchly opposed a Scottish Parliament because he believed it would never be satisfied short of independence. At the weekend, he pointed to the Calman Report's recent recommendation of greater tax powers as vindication of this view.
Predictably and predicted, foreseeably and foreseen, by me, George Cunningham, and indeed Enoch Powell, during the Commons debates of 1977–79, a Scottish Parliament, once established, is going to ask for more and more, and will remain discontented until such time it has got it. It is in the very nature of parliamentarians to demand more powers and financial resources for the institutions in which they find themselves. It is absolutely par for the course that the parties – Labour, Liberal and Conservative – should have endorsed the Calman report before they can possibly have had time to read, let alone digest, Calman's tome and recommendations.
The Conservatives also opposed the creation of a Scottish Parliament in 1997, a position that David Cameron now says was a mistake. However, there are signs that the party's traditional stance is reasserting itself, with Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie rowing back from full support for the Calman Report.
Ms Goldie has had to acknowledge concerns from a rebel group of more than a third of her party's MSPs, who are sceptical about devolving more powers to Scotland.
David Cameron has been silent on the commission's report since its publication.
A spokesman for Ms Goldie said: "We have a duty to carefully consider the report, especially as it is likely that it will be a Conservative government in Westminster which has to deliver the changes."
However, there was anger from inside the commission. One member said: "The Conservatives should be careful what they do, because if they put this report into the long grass and just shelve it, they will become the anti-devolution party again."
The problem for the Tories is only likely to grow if they take office at Westminster, which in itself will drive another wedge into their relationship with Labour and the Lib Dems north of the border.
