IN much the same way as it has been said of astronauts - that when they come back they are never the same - so the United Kingdom is a different place following the referendum in Scotland.

Literally of course, the UK has not been anywhere. Rather, three-quarters or so of it has watched and waited while the Scots decided if they wanted to break away.

But now that decision has been made it is more apparent than ever, as its implications are digested, that another journey is beginning, one that will fundamentally change the nature of all parts of the UK.

Scottish Nationalist Party leader Alex Salmond failed, in his otherwise gracious acknowledgement of defeat yesterday morning, not to look like a family pooch that had been promised a bone but given a biscuit.

And barely had the echoes of his speech died before David Cameron was metaphorically mopping his brow - surely he would not have survived a ‘yes’ vote - and declaring that the referendum will act as a trigger for change, not only in Scotland, but south of the border too.

In what seems in political terms like an incredibly short timescale, he has laid out proposals to consider and tackle the thorny issue of English votes for English laws, the theory that in future, there may be a measure of ‘drop out’ when it comes to MPs from Scotland, and Wales and Northern Ireland for that matter, voting on matters pertaining to England.

Proposals, said Mr Cameron, must be drawn up by November, and could be set in stone by the end of January.

At the same time that this work is going on, discussions will be had and decisions made about the package of extra powers that Scotland has been promised as a result of the ‘no’ vote on Thursday.

And all of this of course, will take place during the approach to a General Election, next May.

Surely it is not too cynical to suggest that, with the ballot boxes barely back on the shelves in Scotland, the victorious Better Together campaign might paradoxically lead to a sort of Even Better With Less Capacity To Meddle In Each Other’s Affairs While Staying Together situation? Stay close, but not too close?

And will cynics of a certain political hue interpret the haste with which the English votes question is to be pursued - an issue that depending on its outcome, could leave future UK Labour governments with major headaches - as an attempted Tory ‘landgrab’ ahead of the aforementioned General Election?

Politics of course is a murky business at the best of times, in the sense that as regards pronouncements and proposals, most of the wrangling is done and the detail finalised behind closed doors, and often barely alluded to in public.

What happens in the next few months and years however, will have to be a far more transparent process than usual.

The Scots have been on a unique journey in the two years since the referendum was announced, and for all the talk of scaremongering and obfuscation, the debate has been thorough and wide ranging The turnout alone - more than 90 per cent in some areas and 84.5 per cent overall - is an indication that the process has been a success.

Referenda of course, will not feature in what happens next, as the extra powers that Scotland acquires and the issues of varying levels of devolution in other parts of the UK are thrashed out.

But those doing the thrashing will do well to bear in mind that they will be under the scrutiny of the electorate, if not as never before, then at least more heavily than participation in recent general election and other campaigns has indicated.

And what about Wales? As an Englishman, albeit one who has lived here for 26 years, I won’t even go there - even though I’m here, if you see what I mean.

Suffice it to say that while independence, for those who really want it, remains a very distant dream, there is the prospect of more devolution.

The danger is that unless its political factions put on a united front and fight for a good deal, Wales might get that devolution in the wider context of UK constitutional change that could place it at a disadvantage.

Better together? Only if in the short term at least, everyone works together.