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True Scottish patriots will reject independence and fight to stay in the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown says today.

Scots should demand £800million and powers back from Brussels as part of the Brexit deal rather than opt to quit Britain, the former Prime Minister insists.

In a return to the political frontline after a bitter week of feuding between Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon , ex-Labour leader Mr Brown outlines a “third way” between separation and accepting current arrangements.

It comes after Mrs May blasted the “divisive and obsessive” SNP as she addressed Tory activists in Cardiff and as Ms Sturgeon prepares to rally her party faithful in Aberdeen on Saturday.

The SNP leader dropped an independence bombshell this week by announcing plans for a second separatism vote in late 2018 or early 2019.

But Mr Brown will call for Holyrood to be handed a raft of new powers after the UK quits the EU instead.

(Image: Jeff J Mitchell)

He is expected to tell the Festival of Ideas in Fife: “The third option, a patriotic Scottish way and free from the absolutism of the SNP and the do-nothing-ism of the Tories, is now essential because post- Brexit realities make the status quo redundant and require us to break with the past.

“The status quo has been overtaken by events because unless powers now with the European Union are repatriated from Brussels to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the regions, Whitehall will have perpetrated one of the biggest power grabs by further centralising power.

“The patriotic way means that Scotland is not caught between a die-hard conservatism that denies the Scottish Parliament the powers it needs and a hard-line nationalism that throws away the resources we secure from being part of the Union.

“Tory and nationalist extremism should not rob us of a third option that can give the Scottish people more powers, offer honest answers about how we can pay for our public services and, faced with the post-Brexit threat to our employment and industry, address the urgent issue of how we create new jobs by exporting and trading successfully with Europe and the rest of the world.”

The plan can “unify our country and end the bitter and divisive Yes v No conflict that will continue to rip us apart”, the former PM believes.

He also proposes renaming the Bank of England the “Bank of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland” to “reinforce the fact that the pound is for everyone”.

(Image: Getty)

He will add: “It is time to transcend the bitter division and extremism of an inflexible, die-hard conservatism at war with an intransigent and even more hard-line nationalism.”

Scots rejected independence in 2014, voting No by 55% to 45%. Now Ms Sturgeon hopes to exploit Westminster’s focus on Brexit talks to stage a second poll.

But Mrs May said now is not the right time for a referendum rerun.

Ms Sturgeon told the BBC: “I’ve been trying to compromise and so far have met with a brick wall.

“She says that now is not the right time for a referendum; I actually agree with that, I’m not proposing one now.

“I set out when I think it would be right, she doesn’t agree with that, so let her set out when she thinks it would be right and then let’s have a discussion about it.

“Who knows, we might only be a matter of weeks or months apart.”

Pledging to fight for the “precious, precious” UK, the PM lashed out at Ms Sturgeon’s “tunnel vision” on Friday.

Speaking at the Conservative Spring Forum in Cardiff, she accused the SNP of a “divisive and obsessive” nationalism.