Indyref: Scottish No Vote For 'Safer Change'

Labour heavyweights say there's no need to vote Yes to give Holyrood greater power.

It's after Gordon Brown unveiled a timetable for further devolution, which has the backing of the three main Westminster parties.

Gordon Brown said:

This is the week that locked in faster, better, safer change for a stronger Scotland in the United Kingdom.
On Monday I proposed a timetable for new powers for a stronger Scottish Parliament within the UK.
Let me be clear that all pro-devolution parties in Westminster and Holyrood have now agreed with our delivery plan.
 
So no one should be in any doubt that Labour’s initiative, led by Ed Miliband and Johann Lamont, means better change, faster change, and safer change than that sought by the nationalists, and it is change that I believe the vast majority of Scots can support and change that can bring Scotland together.
 
Further devolution rather than separation offers better change. We will have a stronger Scottish Parliament with more powers from tax to services, but will also continue to benefit from being part of the UK when it comes to defence and security, the currency, the pooling and sharing of our resources with our friends, neighbours and family in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  And by sharing across the 63 million people of the UK rather than just 5 million people in Scotland, we can guarantee UK-wide rights to a pension, assistance when unemployed, fully funded healthcare free at the point of need and minimum standards of protection at work, including a UK-wide minimum wage.
 
Our plan for a stronger Scottish Parliament offers faster change, because the pro-devolution parties will deliver a stronger Scottish Parliament with determination and speed beginning the day after the referendum. And we will in fact do so quicker than the SNP could ever secure independence.
 
Our stronger Scottish Parliament offers safer change, as further powers will be delivered without the chaos and instability of the SNP’s uncertainty on the currency, threat to default on Scotland’s share of the debt and inability to explain how they would cope with a £6 billion public spending hole when we lose the Barnett formula and the UK welfare state.
 
These proposals offer change that I believe is more in tune with the wishes of the Scottish people – who want stronger powers on tax and welfare for the Scottish Parliament to enable us to make decisions on our own, but who do not want the risks of an irreversible break with the United Kingdom.