Gordon Brown has warned Scotland risks becoming one of the most divided countries in the western world following the referendums on Brexit and independence.
The former Labour Prime Minister made the call as new polling showed only 16% of Scots believe they live in a united country.
The YouGov survey of 2,500 Scots, conducted last week by a pro-Union think tank, found 57% of people agreeing Scotland has “some” divisions, or is “deeply” divided.
Nearly half of respondents, 46%, said the divisions on independence and Brexit will last for a generation and may never be healed.
Brown will say in a speech today: “The poll shows Scotland is at risk of becoming one of the west’s most divided countries - and stuck in a rut. I want us to break out of the trench warfare from which everyone loses out.
“We are divided because we have been polarised by extreme positions - either a no-change, status quo ‘do nothing‘ stance or an ever harder separation including now abandoning the UK pound.”
He will also say: “Scotland looks more like two nations not the united country I’d like it to be.”
“And divisions over independence and over a referendum are now spilling over into other areas - the future of the pound, the future of Scotland’s relations with Europe, the priorities we give to health, education and high-quality jobs and the environment.
”So we have to listen and be prepared to rethink our view of what the UK is, the shape it takes, what binds us together, or many people fear the UK will collapse in this century just as surely as the British Empire collapsed in the last.”
