IT HAS ONLY been hours since the result of the Scottish Independence Referendum was announced, but Thomas Docherty, MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, has already begun to talk about moving forward after the vote.

“I think we need to see three things,” he told the Press, moments after the Fife result was announced. “I think that political leaders, both locally and nationally, need to say - regardless of your view on the referendum - the people of Scotland have spoken decisively. We need to respect those on the other sides’ point of view and work together at Holyrood, at Westminster to agree to specific power transfers that need to take place.

“And crucially, it has to be down to communities. This cannot be a debate about powers between Westminster and Holyrood. It needs to be ‘how do we empower people from Kincardine to Dalgety Bay?’ “If we can get a tenth of the people that got engaged with this referendum to become engaged in their own communities, that would be a huge legacy.” Fife Council leader David Ross was also keen to see what the future holds for Scotland, and believes there will be a lot of change. “I think there are a lot of powers already coming, in the 2012 Scotland Act for instance, and I think we will go forward and see more powers coming,” he said. “But we need the time to get those powers right and get the balance right between what we decide to do in Scotland and what we decide to do cooperatively with the rest of the UK.

“But I think also it’s not just about Scotland - UK politics will be changed by this referendum campaign and by the decision tonight and I’m pleased - I actually think we can do this together as a UK family rather than as a whole lot of separate nations.”