Gordon Brown helped to broker the promise of more powers for Holyrood if Scots voted no in 2014

A third option in Scotland’s referendum offering voters a beefed-up parliament with more powers would have seen support for independence collapse, Gordon Brown has claimed.

The former prime minister said that he wanted a third option on the ballot paper in 2014 but he was not involved in the negotiations that resulted in the poll asking people to vote Yes or No.

In his book, My Life, Our Times, which is published today, Mr Brown revealed that he wanted Labour to have its own properly funded campaign before the referendum.

He claims he argued at the time that Labour supporters were more susceptible to the attractions of independence than other unionist voters, therefore a Labour campaign was needed to keep them on board. He