The Vow: Signed by political leaders that barely survived long enough for the ink to dry and not worth the paper it was written on.

We can look back and laugh about it now, The Vow. When The Vow was made, those who supported Yes in the Scottish Independence Referendum laughed at it then too. No right minded person who had lived long enough to have experienced successive Tory governments and betrayals by Labour took the Vow to be worth anything at all. And so it was, the day after No narrowly won, David Cameron was already backtracking and saying that English Votes for English Laws would have to come before any further devolved powers to Scotland. England first, always. Hearts sank in Scotland and No voters woke to realise they had been duped.

We fast forward to the 2015 general election and the Tories were struggling to make any headway with voters until they noted the impact that the SNP leader was having. The lie was formed that Scotland would form an alliance with Labour and dictate to England where the money would be spent. A man who couldn’t eat a sandwich was no match for the slick Sturgeon and England would be ruled by a vengeful Tartan marauder. The Scots were demonised by the Tories and Labour were hapless in how to combat the fake threat being peddled by the Tories and their fake news outlets. The Tories had traction for the first time in the election and they fought to the bitter end on the grounds that England should vote Tory or be subjugated to Tartan tyranny.

No voters asked what happened to Better Together and England responded with a firm two fingered salute.

The Supreme Court today confirmed that Scotland have no influence on matters concerning their constitution. Scotland takes what England gives and that is the law. It is of no great surprise. Yes voters said that was the case back in 2014, they said it in 2015 and 2016 but it is reassuring to see that the highest court in Britain has confirmed it in 2017. The question now should be whether Scotland can assert a claim for independence or whether the yoke of English rule from Westminster can dictate even the right to that.