Brown warns of 'dangerous drift' threatening to break Union

Published on Saturday 13 January 2007 11:57

GORDON BROWN today warned that the Union of England and Scotland is under threat.

The Chancellor spoke of his fears of a "dangerous drift" to separatism in anewspaper piece to mark the tercentenary of the two parliaments merging in 1707.

Mr Brown defended the idea of Britishness amid signs that the Scottish National Party would perform well in the forthcoming Holyrood elections.

And he rejected calls for English laws to be decided by English MPs alone now that devolution has been brought in.

The Chancellor's intervention will be seen as further evidence of his concern over being seen as "too Scottish" if, as expected, he succeeds Tony Blair later this year.

"It is now time for supporters of the union to speak up," Mr Brown wrote.

He added: "Regrettably, an opportunist coalition of minority Nationalists and what used to be the Conservative and Unionist party is forming around a newly-fashionable but perilous orthodoxy emphasising what divides us rather than what unites."

Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell said the union needed "modernised" and there was more to be gained in common purpose than by separatism.

He said: "Gordon Brown is right to highlight the 'Faustian' bargain between the nationalists and the Tories. They may have different motives but their actions will lead to the same conclusion, the break-up of the union."