Gordon Brown: We must defend the Union

By Gordon Brown

More than a year ago I argued that a debate about the future of the United Kingdom was long overdue. I suggested that, unless we start to focus more on what unites us than we do on what divides us, there is a real risk that one day people will wake up and find that the benefits of the Union - which they had taken for granted for so long - had disappeared.

Mobile phone police in every neighbourhood, says Gordon Brown Daniel Hannan: Why we have stopped voting Three Line Whip: Who's who in 10 Downing Street 'The Union can benefit all of us, and not at the expense of each other' I was accused of crying wolf. But when secessionist forces are loudly at work it is not the time for silence and passivity. We must be resolute in defending the Union and argue against those who put it at risk. In these islands we have, over centuries, created the world's most successful multinational state because we celebrate and respect the multiple identities that enrich us all. I am Scottish and proud of it, but I am no less proud to be British - just as there are millions who are proud to be Welsh and British and English and British too. In recognition of this, 10 years ago we embarked on devolution - ensuring that the smaller nations that are part of the UK have more control over their own affairs. Devolution simply acknowledges the dual identities: Welsh and British, Scottish and British too. Yet if, as I believe, the Union is a multiplier for good that too often and for too long has been taken for granted, then it is time now to explain how the Union can benefit all of us, and not at the expense of each other. There is no Scotland-only, Wales-only, England-only solution to transnational challenges that range from terrorism to foot and mouth disease, and from avian flu to security and climate change. So for these islands an environmental Union, a security Union and a Union for defence is to the benefit of all. But what matters even more are the common values we share across the United Kingdom: values we have developed together over the years that are rooted in liberty, in fairness and tolerance, in enterprise, in civic initiative and internationalism. These values live in the popularity of our common institutions from the NHS, the BBC, to the Queen - and even more recently in UK-wide support for the Olympics, Children in Need, Comic Relief, Make Poverty History and action on climate change. We know also that we are stronger together because again and again each part of our country has benefited from innovations with origins in only one: the NHS founded by a Welshman; universal education with many of its earliest roots in Scotland; and universal suffrage championed by radicals in England. In all these, and in many other instances, we did not lose because we worked together, but gained something greater than we could have achieved separately. The fact is, the Union is more like a covenant founded on shared values that have created bonds of belonging that make us all feel part of a wider Britain. Out of these bonds of belonging we have created not just the rights and responsibilities of a political citizenship but also of a social and economic citizenship too. So today, wherever and whoever you are in any part of the United Kingdom, you enjoy not only the right to liberty within the law but also the right to education, to healthcare, to help when unemployed and to a state pension and soon, for everyone, an occupational pension too. It is through such social insurance that all parts of the UK share risks and resources to provide security for each of us. It is precisely because these shared values are so important and continue to flourish that it is possible to reconcile English, Scottish and Welsh pride with the progress of the Union - because the Union succeeds in combining recognition of separate national identities with the ideals and common values that reflect our wider Britishness. Today Jack Straw, Secretary for Justice, is consulting throughout the country on a statement of values that define British citizenship and on the case for a full British bill of rights and duties setting out rights and obligations for all citizens. The theme of the next stage of constitutional reform will be the empowerment of people - at local, regional and national levels. So it makes sense also to look at the relationship between the nations and regions and whether it strikes the right balance as we strive to meet and master new global challenges. The discussion about the future of Britain will succeed best if it is based on our shared values, and rooted in the hopes and aspirations for the future of people in every part of our country. There is a modern case for the Union, and it must be heard: it is not about partnership at the expense of pride, or about pride that can be satisfied only by sacrificing partnership. Instead, it is to ensure that each region and nation of the United Kingdom flourishes within a covenant and in a partnership of equals for the benefit of all.