MENTION the word constitution to most people in Hampshire just a few short days ago and their eyes may well have glazed over.

But that was before last week’s historic vote by Scotland to stay in the Union and the pledge by the Prime Minister to fulfil promises made in the dying days of the campaign to give more powers to the Scottish Assembly.

Even that would not have been enough to excite most of us living so far from the border over constitutional matters.

But the pledge to also give more power to the English has opened a round of debate that we cannot nor should not ignore.

The shape of any regional powers to be transferred to English voters will be debated for years to come. A more pressing question is whether all parties in government will now bar Scottish MPs from voting on purely English matters.

However this is not a matter for party politics, we would say, but a case of what is fair and just for all of us living in this United Kingdom.

Politicians of all shades will do well to realise the people are suddenly very interested in that dry and dusty matter known as the constitution. We expect our elected representatives to get this right.