The report of the Smith Commission serves to shift the focus in Scotland away from what powers the country wants or needs to how those powers might work and how they will be used. The contributions contained in this ebook present opportunities to reflect on the pressures that created the commission and where Scotland’s devolutionary will go from here. Published immediately before the report of the Smith Commission, this book is intended as a contribution to the wider public discussion which, its authors believe, will and should follow the Lord Smith’s recommendations.

The papers are based on submissions to the Smith Commission but have been largely updated to consider what will come next in the ongoing process of Scottish devolution. The submissions have been contributed by friends and fellows of the ESRC Centre on Constitutional Change. The centre is part of the Future of the UK and Scotland programme funded by the Economic and Social Research Council to contribute to policy and public debate around the Scottish referendum and its aftermath.