Scotland's First Minister, Mr Donald Dewar, told an audience in Trinity College last night that Scotland would not become an independent state. He said that the current devolved parliament would satisfy Scottish people's desire for political recognition.
Mr Dewar was opening an academic conference on Scottish/ Irish links. The Scottish First Minister made a lengthy case against the Scottish National Party - the main opposition to the coalition government in Edinburgh. He suggested SNP supporters had no core beliefs.
He said the SNP drew much of its support from former Conservative areas. "Now they vote nationalist. The question is, what do they believe?" He added: "I do not believe that devolution is a stepping stone, a process which leads inevitably to independence. I believe it is an end in itself and that Scotland will hold to that."
In a speech that seemed aimed as much at domestic consumption as the audience at Trinity, he said devolution protected Scotland's international outlook. "Devolution does not mean a parochial Scotland. It does not mean a return to the kailyard [traditional farmyard]. Inwardness is not the Scottish experience of the past. It is not the Scotland I know. It will not be the future."
Scottish Nationalists argue that not only is independence a "process", in the words of the former SNP leader, Mr Alex Salmond, with devolution as a staging post, but devolution fed a parochial mindset. The attack on these ideas by Mr Dewar reflected ongoing concern at Labour's poll ratings slide and a spate of criticisms of the competence of the devolved government.
Mr Dewar rubbished the suggestion by historian Ms Linda Colley that the reasons for the Union between Scotland and England were no longer valid. "I reject those who take Linda Colley's arguments about the relevance of the 18th century justification for union to mean there are no bonds in the 21st century. In a Britain where people intermarry and intermingle, both socially and economically, this is evident nonsense."
His speech echoed the language used by Labour at the last two elections in Scotland, signalling that the fight for the nation's constitutional future concerns the Labour Party. Mr Dewar said: "Devolution does not, will not, separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. I believe that we are stronger together, weaker apart."
The full text of Mr Donald Dewar's address at Trinity College is available on The Irish Times website at: www.ireland.com