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Brown vows to fight UK break up | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Gordon Brown has pledged to do "whatever is necessary" to preserve the United Kingdom in the face of demands for Scottish independence. | |
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, the prime minister urged pro-Union parties, businesses and trade unions to fight to prevent the break up of the UK. | |
His remarks come after Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander called for an early referendum on independence. | |
She claims she was calling the SNP's bluff, but they ridiculed the move. | |
'Dangers of separation' | |
In the newspaper interview, Mr Brown publicly backed Ms Alexander, describing her as an "excellent leader" of Labour in Scotland. | |
However, he went on to stress he was personally "not persuaded" of the case for a poll. | |
He said: "I will do anything and everything to ensure that the case for the Union, which has served Britain and the British people so well, is properly heard and advanced. | |
Some issues are bigger than politics and need to be addressed in the common interest Gordon Brown | |
"I want all unionist parties and all parts of business - employers, managers and trade unions - to work together not only to push the case for the Union but to expose the dangers of separation. | |
"Some issues are bigger than politics and need to be addressed in the common interest." | |
Last week, Ms Alexander threw Labour into turmoil in both Scotland and England with her unexpected call for an immediate referendum, having previously said that a poll on independence was unnecessary. | |
She later said Labour might introduce its own referendum bill in the Scottish Parliament if the SNP would not - apparently contradicting her earlier opposition to a vote. | |
The prime minister failed to explicitly support her when taunted in the Commons about the row by Tory leader David Cameron. | |
'Re-writing history' | |
Ms Alexander has now said that as a minority party in the Scottish Parliament, Labour cannot force an early referendum on its own. | |
âThe SNP can never again claim that a Unionist cabal is denying Scotland a voice," she claimed. | |
"The SNP party colour is yellow and now we know why. | |
âAlex Salmond's supposed timetable for a referendum in late 2010 merely serves his own narrow political and electoral interests, rather than the interests of the Scottish people.â | |
Mr Salmond ridiculed Ms Alexander's "complete and utter humiliation" and said Mr Brown had demonstrated "a supreme inability to either control events or even keep up with them". | |
Mr Salmond also stressed that Labour had now conceded the principle of a referendum. | |
And Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie observed: "Wendy Alexander tries to defend her indefensible actions of the last seven days by rewriting history, stretching credibility and taking the public for fools." | |