FORMER prime minister Gordon Brown has been criticised for claiming Scots would prefer a changed UK to independence.
Brown is working on a new blueprint for the Labour party on how power is shared across the nations of the UK.
And during a BBC interview about this, he insisted separating from the UK was not the will of the Scottish people and they would instead like to be a part of a wider UK overhaul.
His claims come after a survey commissioned by his think-tank Our Scottish Future found 47 per cent of the 2005 Scots asked said they would support a “serious plan to change Britain” over the country becoming independent.
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But SNP politicians have slated him for the comments, with many pointing to “grandiose” promises he made in 2014 after the referendum that Holyrood would be handed much greater powers.
John Nicolson, MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, told The National: “Gordon Brown made a series of promises to the Scottish people in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum.
"He promised we’d have the ‘best of both worlds' if we voted no, with hugely increased powers and influence within a reformed United Kingdom.
"These were promises he knew he was powerless to deliver. He’s never apologised. So when he talks today about constitutional reform and reheats those same discredited promises, few take him seriously.”
Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, added on social media: “The obvious question is why didn’t he deliver on this pledge he made – 'The UK would be a federal state within two years with Holyrood and other regions handed equal status to Westminster'.
“Why should anyone believe a word he says? Maybe Gordon Brown will tell us?”
Brown said it was important Scots were shown what changes could happen, how they could benefit from them, and how they could end the “conflict” which was causing “so much damage”.
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He also made separate claims the Tories should not be afraid of holding indyref2 as he was ready “any time” to defend the Union, which the Tories have insisted shows he’s playing into the SNP’s hands.
“If people were presented with a plan for a changed UK then they would look at that very seriously and I think they would prefer it to independence,” said Brown.
“I would hope we can produce proposals in the summer, that can be discussed over the summer and autumn with the hope we can have a clear plan that the people of Scotland can look at in detail over the winter months.
"When the governments of the UK and Scotland can’t cooperate, then everybody suffers, so we’ve got to do something not just about powers but also about relationships between Scotland and the UK.”
He also told the Sunday Times: “I'm not afraid of fighting a referendum or arguing the case in a referendum. I'm ready any time to put my arguments.”
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