Hague: defending the Union

Hague Campaigns for Scottish Double 'No'

Baroness Thatcher, who is due to address a tourism conference in Glasgow, said in The Scotsman newspaper that the Government was acting in a "shallow and cynical manner". She added: "I do not believe that most Scots want to break up the Union."

Hague's message writ large

Mr Hague arrived in Scotland to take part in the last two days' campaigning before Thursday's referendum. He told BBC Radio Scotland that he welcomed Lady Thatcher's intervention in the campaign because, he said, it was time for everyone to speak out on the issue.

Speaking of the tax-raising powers proposed for the Scottish Parliament, he said it would be a "hugely expensive Parliament that will inevitably raise people's taxes, that will cost working people in Scotland hundreds of pounds a year". He added: "To make Scotland the highest tax part of the United Kingdom would be a very grave mistake for Scotland and everybody who lives in Scotland."

Mr Hague said he was also concerned about the Union and said he believed the Parliament would create conflict with local government and the rest of the UK. "I think it would be used by people to try to prise the United Kingdom apart. That, after all, is why the Scottish Nationalists are campaigning for it."

Mandelson Fights Back

Mandelson: Hague and Thatcher are assets to the 'Yes-Yes' campaign

"The Tories offered nothing to Scotland at the general election. They are offering nothing now," he said. He added that Tories were united only in their opposition to change and their "imprisonment" in the past. "William Hague is an isolated and increasingly pathetic-looking figure who has shown he is no more capable of speaking for the rest of the UK than he is in Scotland. Now he is being upstaged by the haunting shadow of Lady Thatcher. Together they will do as much for the Yes-Yes vote on Thursday as the campaign's own supporters."

Brown's Promises

Brown: more wealth not taxes

• Bring government closer to the people and the people's priorities
• Work with business to boost jobs and competitiveness
• Properly steward the country's resources
• Cut bureaucracy
• Not raise income tax for the period of the government's first term