JOHN Prescott said he was in Scotland "as a Welshman, representing a northern constituency most of my life", asking people north of the border to vote No.
Campaigners from both sides of the referendum debate faced off as he hit the campaign trail. Yes supporters jostled with Better Together campaigners as Mr Prescott visited Rutherglen Main Street in South Lanarkshire on the Scottish Labour battle bus. He was joined by Better Together campaign leader Alistair Darling and deputy Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
The former Deputy Prime Minister urged people to think about other parts of the UK when they cast their vote.
He said: "You in Scotland have started a radical debate, revolutionary debate. It won't just stop in Scotland. We in the northern areas look to your support to make sure that we are able to deal with a massive Tory vote.
"Scotland you can make a difference when you vote - it's not just about Scotland. We are better together."
Mr Prescott said he was in Scotland to talk particularly to Labour voters.
He said: "I'm not here to tell you anything about the arguments about currency union and uncertainties.
"What I want to say is what Scotland has done for Britain and what Scotland and its values have brought into the essence of Britishness.
"British has come about because many of the struggles and strains that have gone on in this country started in Scotland. It's your character, your contribution to the intellectual contribution, to medicine, to education, you have always led the way, that's the reality and I say that as a Welsh person.
"Of course there's a lot to be done but the leadership has come from Scotland and I'm here as a Welshman, representing a northern constituency most of my life, to argue to keep that character, to keep that contribution that is Scottish."
The former Deputy Prime Minister was surrounded by placard bearing "No Thanks" as well as pro-independence campaigners and at one point his words were almost drowned out by shouts of "Yes".
Mr Darling said a No vote would offer Scotland the best of both worlds, with more powers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article