David Cameron should have looked to the Australian example before he allowed the so called Scottish 'referendum'.

(The Western Australians were also asked whether a convention should be called to propose alterations to the Constitution. Unfortunately this was rejected by 57%. It could have been used to reverse the High Court's centralist trend in interpreting the constitution.)

The WA government threw the British into confusion by sending the petition to Westminster. A parliamentary committee finally realized with considerable relief that as we could change our constitution – we were the only Dominion able to do this – this was an Australian and not a British matter.

With a change in government, economic improvement and the likelihood of war, the momentum was by then lost. Nothing further was done, although the issue bubbles along, no doubt encouraged by the present inequitable distribution of GST.

The point is that by learning from Australia, David Cameron could have ensured that the decision on 18 September was made by all the British people and not on emotion but on the clearly established consequences of change.