Scottish Conservatives have attracted unionist voters who might not stick with them if the threat of independence were seen to recede.
The First Minister has a powerful gift for weaving myths about herself, but should not be allowed to write the first draft of history alone.
A litany of domestic failures and the murky state of SNP finances are all possible factors. But his shattering the illusion that the Tories could not win a constitutional fight seems to have tipped the balance.
Consultation found three quarters of Outer London residents oppose the expansion, and neighbouring councils are refusing to cooperate.
Time and again, their more muscular – to borrow a phrase – approach to Westminster’s prerogatives has paid off. Yet they don’t set Union policy.
The West Midlands must compete with Barcelona, Boston, and Beijing – not with London and Manchester.
The First Minister insists that transwomen are women, but defends a separate policy towards placing them in the male prison estate.
So far public opinion has failed to rally behind the First Minister on either the constitutional principle or the substance of the s35 row.
Empowering left-wing leaders is the price that one has to pay for the local experimentation that devolving power and funds entails.
Germany has come closer to managing it – but take a look at the bill: an average of £71 billion between 1990 and 2014. That’s a little more than the £2 billion Sunak was sharing out yesterday.
I favour a unitary system – combining a suitable number of current districts and boroughs, handing down county council powers, with a combined authority led by a directly elected Mayor.
They didn’t get a surge when the UK Internal Market Act passed and saw only a temporary one after their Supreme Court defeat. What about now?
In contrast with the Prime Minister, who made five specific commitments, the Labour leader told the nation that he will have objectives and will unveil them soon.
There is no point having Westminster build safeguards into devolution legislation if no government will actually use them.
Rather than a gimmicky new layer of Government it would have been better to adopt a more localist approach of handing powers to existing local authorities.