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| Scottish independence: MP 'anger' over Brown debate call | Scottish independence: MP 'anger' over Brown debate call |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Several Scottish Labour MPs have expressed anger at a call by former PM Gordon Brown for David Cameron to debate Scotland's first minister. | Several Scottish Labour MPs have expressed anger at a call by former PM Gordon Brown for David Cameron to debate Scotland's first minister. |
| Mr Brown said it would be a "good idea" for the current prime minister to go head-to-head with Alex Salmond, ahead of the independence referendum. | Mr Brown said it would be a "good idea" for the current prime minister to go head-to-head with Alex Salmond, ahead of the independence referendum. |
| Mr Cameron has said any TV debate should be between Mr Salmond and Better Together leader Alistair Darling. | Mr Cameron has said any TV debate should be between Mr Salmond and Better Together leader Alistair Darling. |
| Voters in Scotland go to the polls in the referendum on 18 September. | Voters in Scotland go to the polls in the referendum on 18 September. |
| On Monday, Mr Brown told journalists at a Westminster lunch: "I think it would be a good idea if David Cameron did debate Alex Salmond, but I'm not involved in the negotiations." | On Monday, Mr Brown told journalists at a Westminster lunch: "I think it would be a good idea if David Cameron did debate Alex Salmond, but I'm not involved in the negotiations." |
| BBC Scotland Westminster correspondent David Porter said some Scottish MPs had described Mr Brown's comments as ''unhelpful'' and ''irrational'' and that, privately, figures within the pro-Union Better Together Campaign were known to be extremely annoyed by the former PM's views. | |
| 'Patronising' material | |
| Asked whether Mr Cameron would agree to debate the first minister in light of Mr Brown's comments, the prime minister's official spokesman, said: "The Better Together campaign have said that what should come about is Alex Salmond accepting Alistair Darling's invitation to debate, and that's very much the PM's view too." | Asked whether Mr Cameron would agree to debate the first minister in light of Mr Brown's comments, the prime minister's official spokesman, said: "The Better Together campaign have said that what should come about is Alex Salmond accepting Alistair Darling's invitation to debate, and that's very much the PM's view too." |
| Mr Brown also used the journalists' event to criticise the way Scots had been warned they would not be allowed to share the pound in the event of a "Yes" vote. | |
| And he hit out at "patronising" government publicity material suggesting people in Scotland would be able to buy fish and chips every day for 10 weeks with the money they save by voting against independence. | |
| Meanwhile, Conservative Jacob Rees Mogg said some of the messages coming from Westminster in the campaign to keep Scotland in the UK were "too negative". | |
| The North East Somerset MP told BBC Radio Bristol: "England really needs Scotland. Basically we are intermarried, inter-related, we are so strongly connected that the English love Scotland and we therefore want her to stay. | |
| "And I think the message sometimes from the Westminster bubble has been rather negative." | |
| Asked if Mr Cameron could remain prime minister in the event of a referendum "Yes" vote, Mr Rees Mogg replied: "Yes, he can. I think he would be safe. | |
| "It would not be seen as his personal failure if that happened. It would be questions for the 'No' campaign to answer." |