The Scottish people are too important for this...

It may be protocol to have polite discussions with Alex Salmond on the timing and question for a Scottish referendum, but who are we kidding on this one? The longer things can be stretched out and the more obfuscation by the SNP, the bigger Scotland's would-be Prime Minister looks. Its the sort of game that Salmond plays well. He's been at it for years.

But as soon as you start to examine the implications for an independent Scotland - from bailed out Icelandic Scottish banks to which currency the Scottish people would like to have no control over - it becomes very clear that Salmond does not speak for the Scottish people. 

The reality is that independence would make Alex Salmond, Scotland's first Prime Minister. An ambition he has held for a very long time. And that is what this is all about. This man will sell his own country in order to achieve his personal ambition.

The British government should bring forward this referendum to May 2012 - just three months time - with a simple in/out question and have done with it. Independence is too important an issue for the Scottish people to be sacrificed on the alter of Alex Salmond's ego.