Brown’s verdict – Holyrood has failed Scotland

THE Scottish parliament has failed to make Scotland a better country and has been a ‘battering ram’ for independence, according to Gordon Brown.

The former prime minister made a damning assessment of the first 20 years of the parliament and demanded reforms to strengthen the Union.

He warned that failure to act would leave Scotland facing the threat of decades of constitutional division.

Ahead of the launch of a report on the issue by his new proUnion think-tank later this week, he also attacked the SNP’s plans to ditch the pound in an independent Scotland.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Mr Brown said: ‘We created a Scottish parliament by the vote of

‘Battering ram for a separate state’

the Scottish people, not a separate Scottish state.

‘Is it not time we actually made it work for social justice, for economic opportunity, for education improvement, for a better health service, rather than seeing it as a battering ram every day and every week and every year simply to make the case for a separate state.’

In a press statement sent out ahead of his speech, he said that Holyrood has, so far, ‘failed to deliver a fairer and more prosperous Scotland’. He said that, unless new ways are found to allow Scotland and England to live side by side, we will face ‘decades of the 21st century riven by constitutional conflict’.

Mr Brown added: ‘The idea of severing every connection and cutting yourself off from your nearest neighbour does not, in my view, make sense.’

Nationalist MSP George Adam said: ‘Gordon Brown’s monthly interventions are becoming increasingly detached from reality.’

FOR more than a decade, Scottish politics has been dogged by bitter constitutional debate.

But it has become increasingly circular, limiting opportunities for less divisive policy-making.

Gordon Brown is right to identify that the interminable row stoked by separatists has led to a kind of paralysis.

He condemns the ‘seemingly endless confrontation’ – and raises the nightmare prospect that it could go on for many years to come.

If the ‘Punch and Judy show’ continues, Mr Brown warns, we can forget about attempts to create a ‘nation rich in opportunity’ and ‘free from poverty’.

His description of Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘hardline separatism’ as a ‘recipe for hyper-austerity’ is also chillingly accurate.

Mr Brown’s plea for Scotland and England to be able to co-exist more harmoniously is entirely laudable.

But it can only stand a chance of success if Miss Sturgeon calls a halt to the damaging politics of ‘neverendum’ – once and for all.