Former prime minister Gordon Brown argued that cooperation and pooling resources is the best way forward for the country when he spoke at an independence referendum event in St Andrews on Thursday.
Emphasising that institutions such as the NHS were structured based on “need, not nationality”, Mr Brown, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said the UK benefits from a “unique form of interdependence” where “risks and resources are shared”.
Although he conceded that more devolution is needed, he argued against “breaking all constitutional and political links”.
“You don’t have to stand up for your distinct identities at the expense of cooperating with other people,” he said.
Mr Brown also made the economic case against separation, saying that North Sea oil revenues would not be sufficient to sustain welfare, pensions, education and other spending in an independent Scotland.
He was speaking alongside Baroness Shirley Williams, the Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, at a debate organised by Better Together St Andrews.
In her speech, Baroness Williams concentrated on the “common values” shared by all parts of the UK, and said the UK needed to show the world that it is possible to work together.
Praising the fact that Scotland has “for a very long time punched above its weight”, she pointed to the country’s leadership in engineering, science and education but said this could not continue in a “balkanised” future.