ED MILIBAND is absolutely right that Westminster politicians must honour commitments made to the Scottish people before last week’s referendum.

A slim majority for remaining part of Britain was won in part due to promises of more powers for the Scottish Parliament, as well as retention of the Barnett formula determining how public money is distributed across these islands.

Any attempt to renege on pledges made would be a scandalous breach of faith.

Sadly many in the Conservative Party seem only too willing to scupper the deal that kept Britain united — or attach various gerrymandering conditions designed to undermine the authority of any future Labour government.

David Cameron was not wrong to say Westminster needed to hear “the voices of England.” It does, just as it needs to hear the voices of Scotland and Wales.

And the Morning Star backs constitutional reform — which ought to take the shape of the “radical federalism” envisaged by the Communist Party of Britain.

Ultimately that means a wide degree of self-government for the nations of Britain.

That should include far greater powers — particularly over revenue — for local government, which has been systematically deprived of independence over decades by Westminster.

Any move to democratise the British state cannot ignore the most obvious bastions of feudalism that remain — the monarchy and the House of Lords.

An unelected upper house is not merely an anachronism, but has become a discredited expenses sink and talking shop peopled by government appointees — as often selected for their contributions to political party coffers as for any supposed contribution to society.

As for the monarchy, government refusals to disclose secret communications between the unelected heir to the throne and elected ministers speak for themselves.

An unhealthy, unaccountable influence is being exerted on government policy and the details are apparently too sensitive to publish.
That said, the immediate priority for the left is to ensure that a new constitutional settlement is not exploited by the Conservative Party for its own ends.

Labour must give serious thought to a fair devolution deal that lives up to the promises made to Scots while granting greater autonomy to Wales and England.

But it would be suicidal to allow Cameron and his cronies, currently plotting at Chequers, to get away with a fix shutting non-English MPs out of swathes of parliamentary business.

We can be sure that the “devolved” issues the Tories will come up with will aim at stopping Labour from reversing the privatisation madness affecting our public services — most notably the NHS, which in Scotland and Wales has at least been protected from Andrew Lansley’s wrecking Health and Social Care Act.

In the event of a narrow Labour majority, the Tories could seek to derail progressive change by claiming issues are “England-only” and depriving Labour of dozens of votes.

Labour must exert pressure on the vacillating Liberal Democrats to ensure no such dodgy deal is forced through. But in the end its best defence is offence.

A big Labour majority would render the Conservative plotters irrelevant.

It is a myth peddled by the right that England is an inherently Tory country — and a deeply offensive myth at that. Labour has often won majorities of English MPs in general elections.

To do so again, it must offer us hope. Now is the time to abandon its kamikaze commitment to stick to Tory spending plans and set out a programme for public ownership, public services and rising wages.

An £8 minimum wage is a great start. But Labour has a long way to go.