A former Labour Cabinet minister has warned that the “bell is tolling” for the Union – and the country must “reform or die”.
Peter Hain claimed the constitutional status quo could only remain at the expense of “dismembering” the UK, leaving the nations that make it up “immeasurably weaker”.
The ex-Labour MP, who stepped down at the general election, also insisted that the UK Government’s plans for English Votes for English Laws (Evel) – by creating two tiers of representative – added “another string to the separatists bow”.
He was speaking alongside Conservative Lord Salisbury, former leader of the House of Lords, at the Labour party conference in Brighton.
The pair are part of the cross-party Constitution Reform Group, which is working towards drafting a new Act of Union.
Lord Salisbury said the unionists had “lost the initiative” and branded the Evel proposals “ill-conceived and hurried”.
He told activists at a fringe event: “Alistair Darling showed enormous courage and tenacity in his campaign to preserve the Union.
“But perhaps there was an element of justice in the accusation that the campaign was speaking in prose while the Scots were speaking in poetry.
“As a result we have lost the initiative and responded in panic.
“This old shoe has, I’m afraid, come to the end of its day. We really do have to get a new one.”
He said his cause had sympathy with some members of the current Tory administration, adding that he hoped David Cameron would take-up the work of the group going forward.
Former Labour MP John Denham, who also stood down this year, said Labour had to accept some share of responsibility for the current situation.
He argued the party had been “hampered” by the view – perpetuated by prominent figures including Gordon Brown – that England’s job was to support the Union and concede to Scotland and Wales whatever they wanted in the way of rights without getting anything in return.
“The reality is there’s not actually going to be any future for the Union that doesn’t also include a proper settlement for England,” he added, insisting the English could no longer be persuaded to carry on being British, while the Welsh and Scots continued being Welsh and Scottish.
Mr Hain said: “The Scottish elections next May could well trigger a second referendum, which in the absence of the kind of framework we are suggesting, is much more likely to switch from a comfortable No vote last September into a Yes one that could trigger separation.
“I think the bell is tolling for the UK. It’s a question of reform or die.”