Call me an old cynic but….
Are we really expected to believe that for the last two years David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have been sitting on a cunning plan to give Scotland more powers and that they would keep it a secret until just nine days before the referendum?
I think not.
It has been put to them repeatedly that it would be a good idea to have a clear narrative for what would be coming Scotland’s way if Scotland votes No.
But their answer has always been the same – You’ll have to wait to see what’s in our manifesto for the General Election next year.
That unwillingness or inability to offer a positive vision for the future of Scottish home rule came from an unshakable belief that we would vote No next Thursday.
In short, they were prepared to sit on their hands and do the square root of naff all because they were so complacent that the No vote was in the bag.
Over the past 24 hours all that changed.
One poll showing a slim lead for Yes and another showing Yes and No neck-and-neck and they were rushing around like headless chickens screaming “Don’t panic!”
Even when it dawned on them over the weekend that they might actually lose this, that Scotland might actually vote to be an independent country, they couldn’t agree a line.
The Chancellor popped up on the tv and said there would be a timetable. The Scottish Secretary said it was nothing new.
Amid the chaos in stepped Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister, back bencher and the man who presided over the worst economic crash in our history.
He is the man trusted with the cunning plan we are supposed to believe.
And here it is in all its cunningness. The day after a No vote the work on sweeping new powers will begin, by St Andrew’s Day there will be a deal and by Burns’ Nicht there will be draft laws.
Hurrah!
Of course, we don’t actually know what powers will be proposed.
We don’t actually know if the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems can reach a deal once the pressure is off.
And we don’t actually know if a new Scotland Bill will ever become a new Scotland Act. The archives of Westminster are littered with Scotland Bills which never reached the statute book.
Never mind, we’ve got a timetable.
But as cunning plans go….