Nationalism putting Union 'more at risk than at any time in 300 years': Gordon Brown

Scottish, English and Welsh nationalism is posing the “biggest threat to the Union in 300 years”, former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown says.

Brown called on Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour to work together “to make the strongest possible pro-Union case” in a speech to the Fabian Society and Hope Not Hate at Westminster Cathedral Hall this morning.

He warned: “Scottish nationalism plus English nationalism plus Welsh nationalism plus Ulster nationalism does not add up to a United Kingdom.”

“Four nations united only by nationalism will not sustain the United Kingdom. It means a house divided that cannot stand for long,” he said.

“It is now urgent that those who support Scotland’s role in the UK put the case against the two divisive extremes, Nationalist and Conservative, that threaten to blow the United Kingdom apart.

“Make no mistake, we are now in a battle for the very existence of Britain – with two views of our future competing against each other. The Union needs new defenders and it is the time to explain the threat from these new nationalisms to all of our citizens.”

Brown said Britain’s patriotism “has been hijacked by a narrow dogmatic nationalism” by Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.

“If Britain is seen by us not just as traditionally tolerant and fair-minded but as outward looking, what do we find in the Farage brand of nationalism? A Britain that for him is glorying in isolation, viewing every institution with the word ‘European’ or ‘global’ in its title as’ the enemy’ or as hostile territory,” Brown said.

“Talking up No Deal means renouncing the chance of a positive post-Brexit relationship with the continent and our major economic partners: it is yet another example of an inward-looking, isolationist and dogmatic approach that has no economic logic and runs counter to our long-term national interest.

“But Boris Johnson is not just defining his patriotism as being anti-European. Look at what he has written on the Union – not in the heat of the moment during a referendum – but continuously over 20 years.”

Staying on Johnson, Brown continued: “First, representation: He believes that that the number of Scottish MPs in the UK parliament should be substantially reduced. When it comes to the devolution settlement, he would curtail the Scottish Parliament making their own decisions in devolved areas such as universities and social care. And if the Scots were in dire need he would have an answer: ‘I propose that we tell them to hop it’.”

Brown said Johnson’s words added up to: “A manifesto vehemently opposing the three constitutional pillars upon which today’s Union is built – Scottish representation in the UK Parliament, Scottish devolution and Scottish funding.”

He cautioned Johnson could “play the English card” during an election, by “whipping up English nationalistic fervour against Scotland for English votes that put at risk the Union itself”.

Brown went on to accuse Scottish nationalists of moving “almost unnoticed – from demanding a soft form of separation to demanding a hard, more extreme form”.

“In the 2014 Scottish referendum the nationalists proposed leaving the UK political union but said they wanted to keep the UK pound and to stay inside the UK custom union and the UK single market,” Brown said.

“Now they are committed to a wholly separate Scottish pound and to abandon, in a quiet, almost furtive way, the UK customs union and single market which has given us tariff-free, tension-free trade across the four nations for 300 years and prevented what now seems inevitable under independence: a hard border at Hadrian’s Wall separating Scotland and England and life reduced to an unending battle between us and them.”

He cautioned the Labour Party “as a party of the Union it can never and must never make a backdoor deal with the SNP” to grant an independence referendum.

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Brown said Scotland’s role in the Britain had been “strengthened not weakened” by the threat of Brexit, as it had demonstrated the scale of the country’s trading links with the rest of the UK, and the benefits of co-operation.

“The SNP says that with the threat to £14 billion of trade with mainland Europe and 200,000 jobs dependent on it, the Scottish economy faces a crisis,” he said.

“But Scotland has £50 billion of trade with the rest of the UK – and how much more damaging is the risk to the one million jobs and the thousands of companies which depend on trade across the Scottish border?

“The SNP says that we should not disentangle ourselves from 40 years of integration with the EU because of the economic damage that will be done – but just how much more difficult would it be for the Scottish economy, jobs and investment if we attempt to disentangle 300 years of integration and interdependence within the United Kingdom?”

He said being a multinational state had made the UK both “more tolerant and less tolerant”.

Brown said he planned to visit Scotland to put forward “the case for Scotland’s role in Britain” and to advocate “a better relationship between Scotland and Britain”.

“Of this I am sure: if we engage with each other we will, I believe, find people are far more tolerant, fair minded and less inward looking and less dogmatic than those who have hijacked patriotism, turned it into petty nationalism and today dominate our politics with such disastrous results,” he said.