which then resulted in a huge swing away from independence
What huge swing?
As I recall, one rogue opinion poll on the Sunday put the Yes campaign ahead for the first and only time in the entire campaign , something like 51%, 52%?. Someone in clan Cameron panicked (this is a man who'd have us believe he's going to renegotiate Lisbon incidentally) and Labour's heaviest hitter, 'a lying Scotsman' (Gordon Brown was wheeled out) this needn't be an English thing, Scots lying to Scots was a pretty strong theme too.
In the first case, one opinion poll out of hundreds commissioned doesn't constitute a base from which to project a swing off. Others taken in the same period were reporting anywhere between 45% and 48%. The swing is the switch from one to the other, so even if it was 52% the actual swing would have been 3.5%. It's not huge, and was more likely 2%
I would tend to disagree with your assertion that:
"it is not to be expected that the three main parties in Britain should get together two days before a referendum and make specific guarantees"
I would say it's entirely to be expected! and when I saw who was tasked with the job, William Hague, the single most useless politician of his generation, it was all but confirmed.
I think there's a danger that the Scots have started to take the nationalist debate into negotation, although I could be persuaded that this is evidence of the natural direction of mature travel equally. We're in pretty uncharted territory.
I don't think telling lies was restricted to the Westminster parties though, albeit I think the SNP were probably more guilty of speculative blagging. I expect them to come back with a tighter case next time.
If the Westminster parties have made a fool of you Simmo, then fair enough, that happens. I'm reminded of a quote from John Cleese;
"It's not the despair. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't handle"
In terms of being made to look like you've been had though, sapre a thought for the poor people in South West England once who were tricked into voting for a 'literal democrat' who appeared on the ballot sheet ahead of the 'liberal democrat' (that was an independent Tory trick incidentally). The only thing I do know from casting my vote and running campaigns against Labour in the past is that both the Liberals and Tories are very grateful, but I equally understand that if it's become a matter of principle you have to do what's right.
I do think you if you're calling for integrity though, then you should be prepared to set an example and be honest enough to admit your contribution towards putting the Tories into power though. Seeking to blame third parties is a pretty feeble dereliction and refusal to accept any culpability discredits you. I know I was always prepared to do so