GORDON Brown has insisted the No side would win any future referendum on Scottish independence, despite the last 15 polls putting Yes ahead.
Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge show, the former Prime Minister repeated his call for more federalism, telling the host that the “British way of governing has got to change”.
Asked if he thought Scotland would vote for independence, Brown said: “No I don't think so. I think if there was a referendum we'd win it, and Scotland would stay in the United Kingdom.
“But it's going to be a hard battle, because people are frustrated, they're fed up, not just in Scotland, but in the regions of England, in Wales, and I see a sense growing right across the whole of the United Kingdom that people feel in the regions and the nations, they're not being listened to, they're not being consulted.
“Westminster, Whitehall is out of touch and that's why I think we've got to say that at the end of this Covid crisis, we've got to review the way we govern ourselves.
“The way we manage affairs, whether it's public health or whether how we manage the economy, recession, industry, employment. And I think we're going have to get a far better balance between the powers that the nations and regions hold.”
He said Whitehall needed to hand the nations and regions “far more powers of economic initiative”.
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Asked if there should be a vote if the pro-independence parties win a mandate at next May’s Holyrood election, Brown said: “I don't think people want a referendum now. The question is whether you should have a referendum. You could of course have a referendum if you wanted to, but should you have a referendum? And the answer is no, I don't think you should have a referendum.”
The former Labour leader added: “We've got to deal with the recession. Unemployment is rising. We've got to vaccinate people in Scotland and perhaps a second round – we don't know whether there's going to be a third or fourth wave of this disease – and the idea you can have a referendum during the first 12 months of the next year seems to me quite unrealistic and is a sign that the nationalists are really out of touch with the priorities of the Scottish people.”
Brown said he hoped any future vote wouldn’t come down to personalities.
His comments come ahead of a major week for Scottish Labour and the constitution.
On Friday, Keir Starmer is expected to outline the party’s devolution offer for the Holyrood elections in an effort to win back votes from the SNP.
It’s understood leader Richard Leonard has said his party would want voters to be able to choose a third option of “more home rule” in any future independence referendum.
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