The United Kingdom must change fundamentally to stop Scotland going for independence, according to former prime minister Gordon Brown. Mr Brown is set to give a keynote speech on Monday, where he is expected to launch a scathing attack on Boris Johnson's 'cosmetic gestures', which he says will fail to keep the country together.
The ex-Prime Minister will describe the moving of the House of Lords to York as a 'PR gesture', and insists that only 'substantive' efforts and moves will keep the union together.
He is to lay the case for the UK changing 'fundamentally' to ensure Scotland does not 'abandon' the union and to make regions feel respected.
Speaking at a Westminster event organised by the group Hope Not Hate on Monday, Mr Brown will say: "The Conservatives are accepting the need for change but clearly cannot contemplate the scale of change needed.
"We must reboot and renew Britain or we risk losing it."
He will also call for a UK-wide constitutional convention and region-by-region citizens assemblies to gauge public opinion so as to "respond adequately to local needs".
"An outdated institution 200 miles or so north of its current location is still an outdated institution," he will say.
He added: "I will argue for a Council of the North and Council of the Midlands that bring together local authorities, Mayor and MPs and in the form of a Northern Exchequer board take powers from the Treasury over the allocation of regional resources - so that on vital issues, outlying regions and communities will no longer be governed simply by dictates from London second-guessing what they want. "
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