In the aftermath of Scottish Labour’s worst defeat for over a century, there has been a series of pronouncements by senior Labour figures airing their views on what needs to be done.

Henry McLeish, George Foulkes and Alex Rowley tell us Labour must re-address the constitutional question and it is difficult to argue against that. The so-called Vow was scribbled down on the back of a fag packet a few days before the 2014 referendum. It was a panic measure, born out of expediency rather than democratic principle.

Over the years, we have seen various attempts to find a stable solution to Scotland’s constitutional question but all have been later criticised as offering “too little, too late ”. Now there seems to be a growing tendency in the Labour Party to use the F word as the answer but it would be naive to imagine Federalism is the simple solution.

First of all, Federalism would require the UK constitution to be written down in its entirety for the first time. Many would welcome that but no-one should underestimate the enormity of the task and the difficulty of delivering it. Some suggest a UK Constitutional Convention along the lines of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which paved the way for the Scottish Parliament. But that was a long, slow process and, facing the prospect of terminal decline, Labour does not have time on its side.

The Scottish Constitutional Convention was based on the sovereignty of the people but the British Establishment are more attached to the sovereignty of Westminster.

The Convention’s Claim of Right stated that the people of Scotland have the “sovereign right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs”. However, Federalism would require not just the support of the people of Scotland but also the support of the other partners in the Federation.

Two of the other partners, Wales and Northern Ireland, already have devolved legislatures but would they agree to a federal structure? That could be problematic, especially in Northern Ireland, given the Good Friday Agreement was not just an agreement between the different communities in Northern Ireland but also an international agreement between two sovereign states, the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

There is also a problem with the biggest partner, England, in that the population imbalance would mean a federation of very unequal partners. There may be growing support for an English Parliament but there is still no clarity on what kind of governance the people of England want. A few years ago, John Prescott tried the idea of regional assemblies in England but they never got off the ground due to lack of popular support. With no consensus among the people of England, it is very difficult to see any form of federalism on the immediate agenda.

It is also far from clear what further constitutional change, if any, the Labour Party wants and it would be foolish to propose federalism as some kind of panacea for Scottish Labour’s plethora of ills, including its lack of control over its own destiny. For example, the Scottish Labour Party Conference recently passed an anti-Trident resolution but the British Labour Party will have the final say on that. In any federal set-up, Defence and Foreign Affairs would still be reserved matters and so nuclear weapons could still be located on the Clyde against the wishes of the majority of the people of Scotland.

The Labour Party lost its soul with the creation of New Labour, followed by the unforgivable crime of jumping into bed with the Tories during the referendum campaign. In the wake of this month’s humiliating defeat, it is simply not good enough to clutch at straws. Even if Labour were able to deliver Federalism, it would be seen as yet another example of trying to “play catch-up”. The debate has moved on and the momentum is not on Labour’s side.

In my view, the Labour Party in Scotland will never re-discover its long lost soul until it embraces and campaigns for Scottish Independence. There is no evidence such a conversion is imminent but Scottish Labour could at least start by getting rid of the toxic “branch office” brand and introducing a truly independent Scottish Labour Party.

Dennis Canavan is a former Labour MP and Independent MSP, who chaired the Advisory Board of YesScotland during the 2014 Referendum Campaign.