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We have exactly 21 days to stop Brexit and rescue the United Kingdom from years of discord and infighting. It is a huge challenge and only a Labour vote can achieve both of these aims.

Scottish Conservatives want Scotland to be in Britain but not in Europe.

The Scottish Nationalists want Scotland to be in Europe but not in Britain.

Scottish Labour has said it wants what I believe the majority of Scots want: Scotland to be in both Britain and Europe.

Do not be taken in by what Conservatives and Nationalists claim in the days before the

lection on December 12. Just think of what they will tell you on the morning after.

(Image: Getty Images)

If the Conservatives triumph because you vote for them to stop independence, they will claim that your vote is a mandate to deliver Brexit.

If the SNP triumphs because you give them your vote to stop Brexit, they will tell you the next day that the vote is a mandate to speed up independence.

Sadly, both are more interested in winning votes by exploiting the divisions.

So it’s crucial that these parties now tell us the truth before we vote. The fact is that the cost for Scotland if it leaves Britain and Europe will be even more austerity.

We know it hasn’t ended. Try saying it to the mother who – under Tory austerity and the SNP’s version of it – has seen the real value of child benefit drop by 30 per cent since 2010.

Austerity has not ended for low-paid workers on zero-hours contracts who cannot make ends meet. It is still hurting many – such as the four million waiting in pain on NHS waiting lists across the UK.

And especially those in Scotland where, for years now, the much-needed increases in health service spending and staffing are lagging behind the rest of the UK.

(Image: James Maloney/Liverpool Echo)

Already millions are losing out because of austerity, but the SNP can’t or won’t tell us how much more austerity we will face if Scotland leaves Britain. Just as the Tories refuse to release the facts about how much a no-deal Brexit will damage the whole UK economy.

So think of what will happen. I believe we face not just austerity but hyper-austerity if Brexit goes wrong and we end up with no deal and if the nation ever takes the SNP’s advice and opts for independence. It is clear why.

Nicola Sturgeon has said that if we leave the European Union without a proper deal,100,000 Scottish jobs will be at risk and our national income will fall £1600 per head.

That’s bad enough – and the main reason why we should refuse to support the Conservatives. But look at the even more devastating economic impact of Scotland leaving Britain.

For if Sturgeon wants to argue for her European policy on the basis of economic facts, is duty-bound to apply the same economic logic for her policy of separation.

And the impact? While Scotland has £14.9billion of exports with Europe, we have £50billion of exports with the rest of the UK. In other words, the likely effect of leaving Britain – on investment, on jobs and on incomes, is more than three and a half times the effect of leaving Europe.

And if we are not in Britain but are allowed – as the SNP wants – into Europe, a hard border cutting off Scotland from England will be the inevitable result. That means even less trade, less investment and fewer jobs as barriers go up.

The SNP should also tell the truth about their new harder line plan for independence – and the risks of a messy divorce.

To gain votes in the referendum of 2014, they said Scotland would stay with the pound and remain inside the UK currency union and the UK single market. Now they’ve done a u-turn. Under new plans, they want to abandon the UK pound, exit the UK customs union and leave the UK single market.

And when we lose the annual £10billion Barnett grant – worth £2000 for every man, woman and child in Scotland – in its entirety, hyper-austerity will follow.

Momentous decisions are being made on December 12, yet the Conservatives can’t tell us the human costs of Brexit and the SNP won’t tell us the truth about the impact of separation on our living standards, jobs and public services.

We know why they won’t tell us – because they know but can’t admit that leaving Europe and leaving Britain would both spell disaster for the people of Scotland.