The vast majority of Scots have accepted the result of the referendum peacefully, but on the streets of Glasgow, police had to keep rival groups of unionists and nationalists apart, and there were some minor scuffles.

The fact is that even though the union is still intact, the British government’s promise of more autonomy for Scotland is likely to mean changes in the rest of the UK too. That is the view of Jim O’Neill, an economist and former chairman of Goldman Sachs bank.

“It affords the UK a chance to have a much better thought out constitution and devolution of powers between the centre and the regions, and in that sense, because policy makers have been focusing on some of them, I would be quite hopeful and relatively optimistic as to the path ahead for the UK,” said O’Neill.

Prime Minister David Cameron says pledges to Scotland will be honoured in full, but he is refusing to commit to more autonomy for Scotland in the time frame promised by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, insisting that England, Wales and Northern Ireland also have to be considered.