Brown: England-Scotland union under threat

Gordon Brown issued a blunt warning that the Union of England and Scotland is under threat 300 years after it was formed.

The Chancellor sets out his fears of a "dangerous drift" to separatism in an article to mark the tercentenary of the two Parliaments merging in 1707.

In the article Mr Brown defends the idea of Britishness amid signs that the Scottish National Party will perform well in forthcoming elections north of the border.

He also rejects calls for English laws to be decided by English MPs alone, now that devolution has been brought in.

"It is now time for supporters of the union to speak up," Mr Brown writes in the Daily Telegraph. The Chancellor's intervention will be seen as further evidence of his concern over being seen as "too Scottish" if, as expected, he succeeds Tony Blair later this year.

He even risks the wrath of traditional left-wingers tonight by praising their totemic hate-figure, Margaret Thatcher, for her consistent support of the union.

"The failure to defend and promote the United Kingdom is now becoming more a feature of the thinking of the Right.

"In contrast to Lady Thatcher, who rightly defended the Union and did so even when not expedient to do so, Conservative writers now embrace anti-unionist positions, from independence to another anti-Thatcher stance: 'English votes for English laws' - itself a Trojan horse for separation.

"Regrettably, an opportunist coalition of minority Nationalists and what used to be the Conservative and unionist party is forming around a newly-fashionable but perilous orthodoxy emphasising what divides us rather than what unites."

Mr Brown insists: "Of course it is healthy to recognise the distinctiveness of each nation. But we will lose all if politicians play fast and loose with the union and abandon national purpose to a focus on what divides."