Salmond’s next stop: testing the Act of Union

Fresh from his astonishing victory in Holyrood, Alex Salmond has declared his next stage is an independence referendum. This is scoffed at: technically he has no powers to do so and a maximum of a third of Scots back independence. But it’s a brave man who’d bet against Alex Salmond right now, and there are many reasons to take seriously the prospect of Scottish independence. Here are some.
 
1) Scotland is making a mockery out of received wisdom. A few weeks ago, Labour was cruising towards victory. When the Scottish Parliament was designed, the prevailing wisdom suggested that the SNP could never win a majority because the electoral system was rigged against them. Even the SNP believed this. Everyone, it seems, was wrong
 
2) The ‘yes’ campaign will be led by Alex Salmond, whose formidable campaigning powers we’ve just witnessed. And who would lead the ‘no’ side? Cameron? Gordon Brown? The force of personality is very strong in Scottish Politics, and there’s no one to match Salmond.