Gordon Brown says No campaign deepened divisions
After four years away from frontline politics, the former PM will return to the political fray with a passionate argument for a No vote in the forthcoming referendum in his book, My Scotland, Our Britain, to be published on 19 June.
Mr Brown had not expected such a return to active politics, but the referendum campaign forced his hand.
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Hide Ad“Having lost the UK general election in 2010 and having as Labour’s leader accepted responsibility for our defeat, I never thought it right to return to frontline politics”, writes Mr Brown in his introduction.
But the danger Britain may break up, and implicitly Better Together’s failure to stem the rising support for Yes Scotland, persuaded him to intervene.
“As a patriotic Scot I cannot opt out of a debate and a decision that affects children whom I love and people whom I respect,” he writes.
Mr Brown is not impressed by the campaign against independence. Better Together chief Alistair Darling is not mentioned once in the book. It is also clear that Mr Brown is not impressed with the campaign his former Chancellor is running. “Opponents of independence,” Mr Brown believes, have not “made the connection” between the “prosaic and the somewhat more abstract” argument against independence.
To win the referendum, it is necessary to develop a more positive message, Mr Brown says. At a time when an estimated two out of five Labour voters would vote for independence, Better Together must stress that Scotland can play a leading role within the Union. People should not reject independence out of fear. A No vote should be a positive one; “a vote for Scotland leading Britain – not leaving it”.
He writes that rather than landing a knockout blow, Better Together’s negative campaigning has deepened divisions, when the opposite is needed. What is required to win is a willingness “to transcend differences instead of being trapped by them”. Better Together should fight a campaign that “is not looking at the past,” he adds.
Rather than focusing on the dangers of giving up the pound and European Union membership, Brown makes a plea for more equality. His central argument is that inequalities are likely to grow and not fall if the referendum returns a Yes vote. “Inequality could be higher than in England if Scotland were to go independent,” he writes.
Mr Brown will be talking about his book at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose tomorrow.
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