Our Union threatened by FIVE types of nationalists
Brown warns that UK is close to breaking point
THE Union is at breaking point because of the threat from five different types of nationalism, Gordon Brown has claimed.
The former Labour Prime Minister yesterday warned of the dangers posed by nationalism in Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
He said more needs to be done to promote the Union, such as encouraging the nations of the UK to work more closely together as part of an ‘alliance’.
Mr Brown also attacked the ‘petty divisions’ between the UK and Scottish governments over issues including this year’s UN climate change summit in Glasgow and the response to the drug deaths crisis.
He made the comments in a keynote speech at a conference in Newcastle hosted by a pro-Union think tank. It was the first time Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians have appeared together at a public proUK event since the 2014 independence referendum campaign.
Mr Brown said: ‘There are, in my view, five competing nationalisms on the stage at the moment. You have Brexit nationalism, Scottish nationalism, Welsh nationalism, Irish nationalism, Ulster nationalism, and these are nationalisms that are having an impact on British politics.’
He linked the different types of nationalism, saying that they all seek to create an ‘us versus them’ approach.
Mr Brown claimed they all seek to create ‘enemies’ such as outsiders or outside groups.
He added that the UK nations should form an ‘alliance’ and share services, such as specialist NHS facilities, to boost the Union.
Referring to the Scottish Government’s refusal to hand over a venue it has hired at the heart of the site to be used for November’s COP26 climate change summit in
Glasgow, he said: ‘One of the most important conferences about the future of the planet, and you have these petty divisions undermining even the ability to organise a conference, far less get a result from the conference.’
He added: ‘Everybody knows, on the environment, that pollution is no respecter of borders.
‘Everybody knows that no matter what Scotland does, or what England does, or Wales does, or Northern Ireland does, if each of us does not contribute together and then persuade other countries in the rest of the world to contribute as well, we cannot have any solution to the problems of climate change.
‘The environment is just another example of why co-operation is absolutely essential between the nations of the UK as a precursor to co-operation between the rest of the world.’
On the Scottish Government’s decision to hold its own drugs death summit in Glasgow next Wednesday, one day before an identical event organised by the UK Government, he said: ‘You have to find a way of showing you are able to cooperate. Look, drugs policy in Scotland – thousands of kids and adults dying. The Scottish and UK governments arguing over who does what, who is responsible and who is to blame.
‘They can’t even organise one seminar together, they have got to organise two, one day after the other. Why can’t they get together and work out a drugs policy?’
At yesterday’s conference, Fiona Hill, a former chief of staff to Theresa May, said that the former Conservative Prime Minister was always cautious about scaremongering over the threat of independence.
She added: ‘My experience from the last referendum – the question is what language do we use.
‘During that period, I was genuinely concerned, as my boss was, Theresa May, as was Alistair Darling. We were forced into doing what was quickly described as this Project Fear campaign, and I just don’t think that actually works.
‘It makes people more isolated and more likely to vote in the opposite direction.’
Miss Hill cited a speech that Mrs May was ‘forced’ to give on security in Glasgow, where she had to talk about the dangers of an independent Scotland.
She said she preferred a more ‘positive’ approach to the issue.
‘Co-operation is essential’