FORMER prime minister Gordon Brown has claimed Scotland could face decades of "constitutional conflict and divsion" if new ways are not found for Scotland and England to "live side by side".
In a speech at the Edinburgh Book Festival today, Brown will compare the SNP to Boris Johnson and Brexiteers, saying: "Scotland is today trapped between two extremes - Boris Johnson's anti-European conservatism, with Tory austerity now in its 10th year, and the hardline separatism now advocated by Nicola Sturgeon's SNP that is a recipe for hyper-austerity."
The former Labour MP will speak of his hopes for co-operation between Scotland and England.
READ MORE: Brown conveniently ignores the efforts of the SNP to halt No Deal
Brown will say: "If we are serious about addressing Scotland's very real social and economic problems, the debate within our country must move beyond this Conservative-Nationalist Punch and Judy show - with every future election simply a re-run of the bitterly divisive 2014 referendum and without ever making a difference to real lives.
"The starting point of a modern Union is that promoting co-operation between Scotland and England within the UK will achieve far more than a seemingly endless confrontation between Scotland and England.
"The vast majority of us are proud Scottish patriots who love our country and its institutions and most of whom would not describe ourselves as nationalists who see life only in terms of a never-ending struggle between an 'us' and a 'them'."
The former prime minister is also expected to explain why he wants a federal-style division of powers between Westminster and Holyrood.
READ MORE: Gordon Brown enters Labour civil war over indyref2
He will say: "Any country's independence is limited by its interdependence and if the SNP applied the logic that has led them to support sharing sovereignty inside the European Union and were not obsessed by ending all connections with their neighbours in England, there would be a settled Scottish consensus in favour of a modern UK constitution that would balance the national autonomy Scots people desire with the cross border co-operation that we need.
"That would mean a progressive and clear-cut federal-style division of powers between Westminster and Edinburgh and innovative constitutional reforms to guarantee funding, with the longer-term aim of reconstituting the House of Lords as a Senate representative of the Nations and Regions.
"The Scottish people voted for a Scottish Parliament - not for a separate Scottish state."
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