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

Salmond, like so many provincial leaders, wants to tread the world stage as a Prime Minister.

Before he is unleashed, the UK PM should ensured that the electorate is properly informed as to the consequences.

Cameron has failed the people of Scotland in not protecting them from making an emotional vote.

But he has also failed the English, Welsh and Northern Irish.

The Union could be broken up without the people of these three countries having even been allowed to express an opinion .

Decisions on significant questions ranging from the currency to defence and even the status of the United Kingdom as a great power will be decided without their input.

The English Welsh and Northern Irish are equally entitled to have their say. The British government has failed miserably in its duty to provide an opportunity for them to cast an informed vote too.

Once again, if the British government had gone to the trouble of looking at the very successful Australian solution, they would have found a valuable precedent.

This was in Western Australia in 1933, where separatism had long been strong.

In the middle of the depression, the people of Western Australia were asked: "Are you in favour of the State of Western Australia withdrawing from the Federal Commonwealth established under the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act ( Imperial) ?"

As with the Scottish question, this was actually a blank cheque plebiscite. West Australians had no idea how, for example, the national debt would be divided and what the currency of the new defendant would be would be.

On what was then an emotional issue, a massive 66.45% voted Yes.