Norman Lamont on the Scottish Referendum: 'Don't make a mess of it'

"This was an amazing demonstration of political engagement, it is quite astonishing when you consider that there is declining turnout in general elections and I think that is something profound to be welcomed. It is a credit to Scotland and to the UK, and politicians need to reflect on how to enthuse voters in the future. This turnout shows it can be done. We have failed to enthuse voters in the past and that is a great rebuke to us and I think we as always need to think about that. I’m sure we won’t get an 80 per cent turnout in the next General Election but we need to find ways of engaging people more—there is a real disillusionment with politics in this country, a fact which hits one in the face."

"There has been so much constitutional change in recent years we must beware of rushing it through and making a mess of it. I’m not sure that all our constitutional change in the past been thought through fully, for example in my opinion the Fixed Term Parliament Act of 2011 became a real mess at the end. A lot of changes have unintended consequences, obviously the government and the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have to honour the promises for more devolved powers that they made during the campaign. Interestingly, the Conservative party’s proposal is the most radical and involves giving the most back, which is not surprising to me since it accords with the Conservative principle of personal responsibility."