The Act of Union between Scotland and England is 300 years old. Doubtless you watched the fireworks or participated in one of the many parades marking this marriage whose longevity has no precise parallel in the annals of the modern world.

I can only say that all was calm in Fulham — and, apparently, even in Edinburgh’s notoriously fun-loving Morningside quarter. In fact, the only cross-Border noise has come from those asserting that re-establishing a Scottish Parliament means the Union is doomed or in need of a rethink.

Actually, the problem of “asymmetric devolution” within the United Kingdom is not new. In 1912, Asquith’s Liberal Government introduced its Irish Home Rule Bill. Henceforth, the Irish would look after their own domestic affairs. But Ireland would remain within the UK, continuing to send 42 MPs (down from 103 previously) to Westminster.

Like Scotland’s current 59 MPs, the Irish members would be able to vote on legislation affecting England despite English MPs being unable to return the favour. The Government recognised the anomaly and decided, in a policy known as “home rule all round”, that Irish devolution would have to be followed by the establishment of parliaments for Britain’s other constituent nations. In 1911, Herbert Asquith (who sat for East Fife) asked his Home Secretary, Winston Churchill (the member for Dundee), to draw up proposals.

Churchill pointed out the absurdity of having to create an English Parliament. Untangling British interests from that of the dominant nation “seems to me absolutely impossible” he wrote. The only alternative was to create regional assemblies — a solution that John Prescott’s recent advocacy has shown to command little support.

Between 1889 and 1914, Parliament considered Scottish home rule 13 times. But for the First World War, legislation might have been enacted, despite the opposition of the Tory leader, the Ulster-Scottish Andrew Bonar Law. However, the problem of “asymmetry” appeared to solve itself when southern Ireland went the whole hog and cut its links with Westminster. Few worried about the remaining anomaly of Ulster having its own Parliament at Stormont between 1921 and 1972 while still sending 13 MPs to vote on matters on the mainland.

English self-confidence withstood the leaders of the Tory party in the Commons being Scots continuously between 1891 and 1921, or that nobody with an English constituency led the Liberal Party between 1899 and 1931 or that Ramsay MacDonald led Labour. Few concluded England needed to get out of the Union. Compared with the alternatives, they preferred to endorse the words of that great Scottish patriot, Robert Burns: “Be Britain still to Britain true,/ Amang oursels united!/ For never but by British hands/ Maun British wrangs be righted!”

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