EDINBURGH - Scotland renewed its 307-year-old vow with the United Kingdom on Friday, but any diplomatic and economic quandaries vanquished by the decisive result were quickly replaced Friday by anxieties over promises made as part of last-minute efforts to sway undecided voters.
While voters comfortably rejected a referendum on independence from the U.K. by a 55% to 45% margin, the outcome still means new powers will be handed to Edinburgh, resulting in a radical decentralization of the British state affecting England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Amid tightening polls in the run-up to the vote, the three main unionist parties -- Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour -- pledged to give Scotland more autonomy including significantly enhanced control over spending and taxation amounting to a version of home rule in all matters of state save for certain key areas such as defense and monetary policy.
The vote threatened to upend the U.K.'s relationships with key international organizations such as the European Union and NATO and inject fresh uncertainty into global financial markets at a time when world economies are in the midst of fragile recoveries.
The pledge effectively opens the door to the other members of the U.K. who may now seek additional legislative capabilities to manage their own affairs.
'The failure to produce a Yes verdict on this vote is in some ways much more complicated for the U.K. internally than a No because Scotland now has to be given much more constitutional freedom,' said Tony Travers, a professor of government at the London School of Economics.
That in turn raises the possibility that Wales, Northern Ireland and, crucially, England, will agitate for more local law-making powers, Travers added.
That prospect was not lost on Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, who during his concession speech Friday said: 'Scotland will expect these (unionist pledges) to be honored in rapid course - as a reminder, we have been promised a second reading of a Scotland bill by March 27 next year.'
In his own remarks Friday morning from London, Cameron reiterated his intention to see that 'those commitments are honored.' Cameron also said he was aware that other members of the U.K. deserve a larger say over their own affairs.
'This result does definitely not mean business as usual for the U.K.,' said Matt Beech, an expert on British politics at the University of Hull. 'We are going to see an incredibly beefed up Scottish Parliament that really takes very little direction from Westminster.'
In Edinburgh on Friday the de facto offer of a deal that will further empower Scottish lawmakers was not a sufficient salve to soothe those who had been holding out for full sovereignty.
'There's going to be a period of mourning,' said Ross Colquhoun, co-founder of National Collective, a group of artists and activists that spent over two years campaigning to make Scotland the 31st country to emerge on the world stage since WWII.
'We're going to try to make sure that people are still engaged with this issue but it's going to be a much tougher challenge,' he said.
Cameron has been under considerable pressure to deflect the challenge to the U.K.'s constitutional authority. He may find a temporary reprieve in a part of his portfolio not typically associated with peace and quiet: the British Armed Forces.
'It's unlikely that much in the military will change with a No vote,' said Malcolm Chambers, a defense and security expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank.
'If another independence vote proves to be a possibility that could change though,' he added.
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