Gordon Brown has launched a six-day tour of “Scotland’s heartlands” to try to convince undecided voters to back No.
The former Prime Minister will today say more devolution is coming if independence is rejected and will claim a stronger Scottish Parliament within the UK is “far better, fairer and safer than an irreversible separation”.
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP will attack the SNP for “having no Plan B on the currency (and) no Plan A on the economy” and cite five major economic challenges for an independent Scotland.
Speaking at a rally in Midlothian, he will say: “Scotland would begin life as a separate state in 2016-2017 with a £6 billion public spending hole and oil revenues which the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) estimates at only £2.9 billion.
“For this reason and the benefits of a pool of 63 million UK citizens as against a pool of only five million Scottish citizens sharing across the UK is a better option for social justice, meaning more jobs, safer pensions and better healthcare.
“There are five challenges that the SNP have not faced up to: more jobs (1.4 million) linked to foreign ownership and exports than most countries; banks 12 times the size of an independent Scotland’s national income; a £6 billion public spending hole when we lose the Barnett formula and the UK welfare state; and the uncertainty over the currency as well as the SNP’s threat to renege on our share of the debts.”