Brown backs the Union

FORMER prime minister Gordon Brown addressed an audience at Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday and hailed Team GB’s Olympic success as an example of what Scotland can achieve within the United Kingdom.

Mr Brown said the success from the pooled resources of all of the nations and regions of the UK in the London Games also applied to other aspects of British life such as healthcare or defence.

He also praised the achievements of Scottish Olympians such as Edinburgh-born cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and claimed that the legal, social and economic rights of Scots could be under threat if the country left the UK.