Most folk want the Scottish Parliament to have more powers, confirmed in recent polls.  IPSOS Mori’s Scottish Opinion Monitor found that over two thirds want Holyrood to have full fiscal powers, while the Angus Reid poll found that 47% would support devo-max, that is more powers but staying within the UK.

The people are saying loud and clear what they want.  So why aren’t the political parties listening?

Let’s put it another way.  Which political party is offering people devo-max, that is, the Scottish Parliament having control over a wide range of powers but still remaining in the UK?  Eh, that will be none.

Currently, the parties are polarised by extremes.  The SNP advocates full independence, though there are suggestions that it might step back from this and seek an independence lite option.  Such briefings and murmurings have yet – if ever – to be translated into official party policy.

The Scottish Greens also support independence but they don’t make a virtue out of it these days.  And while the Scottish Socialists and Solidarity both advocate it, they are so far below the sightline of Scottish voters, their views are invisible.

All other parties have allowed themselves to be defined by their opposition to independence and/or their adherence to unionism.  Towards the end of the last Parliament, there were signs of shift, in that the Scotland bill committee actually advocated more powers than Calman recommended.  Yet, amendments transferring these powers to Holyrood were slapped down at Westminster.  Is it little wonder that the Scottish people sighed wearily before rejecting them wholesale at the election in May?

One of the most entertaining and enlightening bloggers around right now is Ian Smart.  Smart by name, smart by nature.  In a recent blog, he declared himself a devolutionist and in his highly original, deprecating manner, he gets to the heart of the matter:

But defining devolution is for the devolutionists. Having seen off the Unionists on one flank there is no reason we should cede ground to the nationalists on the other. I am more than a little irritated by the demands of the SNP that we need to develop a different devolved settlement to enable them to put it as a fall back option in their legendary referendum.

And he is absolutely right.  But let’s look at it in a slightly different way.

In recent years, voters have become less thirled to constitutional absolutes and more concerned with what works and what is needed.  The SNP has recognised this and cleaned up in the voting stakes.  By marching in step with people, at a pace of their choosing, by demonstrating flexibility in the route taken, it is currently happy to accept that the journey to independence is a gradual one.  Even the noises off about downgrading the independence offering demonstrates its willingness to allow the Scottish people to lead the way.

The grand plan could still falter.  What if the Scottish people get so far and say no further?  The gradualist approach requires Scotland to reach a tipping point, where taking the final steps to independence become so ridiculously easy, the nation does it without really thinking, wondering all the time what the fuss was about.  What if that does not happen?  What if they look over the precipice and shrink back?

Moreover, at some point, the SNP are going to have to take the lead in this dance, if it wants people to vote for its goal, or even to choose devo-max.  This means setting out the options, what they mean, in all their confounding detail, and taking people with them.

And a further potential problem is what happens if – when – one of the supposedly Unionist parties wakes up and smells the coffee, and abandons unionism in favour of devolutionism.   Again, there are promising signs, what with Murdo Fraser’s declaration of ripping it up and starting again in order to create a new right of centre party that advocates full fiscal powers for the Scottish Parliament.  And somewhat ironically, the son of Westminster, Tom Harris, appears closest to getting it among the early contenders for the Scottish Labour leadership.  And there are certainly devolutionists out there, like Ian Smart, who long for this to form a key part of his party’s narrative.

But essentially, the opposition parties are still talking about fighting the referendum campaign in terms of defending the union or making the case for the union.  The response of the ancients in the House of Lords to the Scotland bill demonstrates just how attached they all are to the politics of the past.

They ignore the reality that the Scottish people have moved on and no longer want the status quo.  They want more, considerably more in terms of control and powers over their lives and politics, if recent polls are to be believed.

And the longer they stick their fingers in their ears and refuse to listen to what Scots are saying, the more the SNP can step gaily towards the referendum, and secure independence or at the very least, devo-max, and potentially another term in office.