Labour should make clear that if the settled will of the Scottish people is for a referendum on independence, that will should be respected, irrespective of the possible outcome. Only if Labour alters its hardline unionist position will it gain a hearing in Scotland.
The Labour Party should devise its own campaign to propose a federal Britain when (or if) a referendum on Scottish independence happens. It should campaign on its own for its own distinct plan, as its joint campaign with the Conservative Party in 2014 helped to destroy Labour's electoral prospects in Scotland (although Labour's support in Scotland had been decaying for a long time). Proposals for a federal Britain should include enhanced devolved powers for Scotland and Wales ; regional assemblies for England, with enhanced devolved powers for the metropolitan authorities ; a sovereign wealth fund for the regions, to fund autonomous economic development ; dedicated regional investment banks ; and an elected Senate of the British Isles, which would replace the House of Lords. This would be one link in enhanced mechanisms of coordination between central government, local government and metropolitan regions.
Such a plan, if imaginatively presented, could gain support throughout England and Wales, as it would capitalise on longstanding discontent with our over-centralised and ill-coordinated system of government.