Former PM Gordon Brown intervenes in Scottish independence vote
Former PM intervenes with promise of more powers for Scotland if it rejects independence
Former British prime minister Gordon Brown has come out of retirement to spearhead a last-ditch campaign to save the union as a poll confirmed that the two sides were neck and neck ahead of next week's referendum on Scottish independence.
The latest poll, by TNS, added to the mood of urgency and anxiety for Labour and the government, disclosing that support for independence has jumped six points in a month, pushing the "Yes" vote to 38 per cent, a single point behind "No" at 39 per cent.
We are making a decision for the children of Scotland
Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday announced a last-minute trip to Scotland to campaign against independence. Cameron and opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband agreed to skip their weekly debate in the House of Commons today to head north after opinion polls indicated there was a real prospect of the 300-year-old union breaking up.
Labour would be the biggest political victim of independence. It is often joked there are more pandas in Edinburgh's zoo than there are Conservative MPs in Scotland. Scottish voters elected 41 Labour MPs in the 2010 election and only one Conservative.
If the next general election due in May were held today, eliminating Scottish votes would give Cameron's Conservatives a 37-seat majority win.
With "No" campaigners saying they were baffled by the surge in support for "Yes", Brown is returning to frontline politics to lead Scottish Labour's drive to regain control of the independence debate with further proposals to devolve powers to the nation and inject some previously absent passion. The referendum takes place on September 18.