A TORY MP has compared Alex Salmond to a 19th century leading Irish nationalist.
Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said the former SNP leader was 'the new Parnell' after Charles Stewart Parnell, whose lengthy speeches on the issue caused much disruption to the Westminster Parliament.
He said if elected to Gordon at May's General Election, Mr Salmond would "ruthlessly and recklessly" disrupt the UK as much as possible.
The Staffordshire MP was speaking during an Commons adjournment debate called by Gordon Brown, in which the former prime minister claimed David Cameron had lit the fuse which ultimately blows the Union apart.
His description is unlikely to upset Mr Salmond, who has previously linked himself to the Irish Home Rule leader, and citing the poetry of WB Yeats.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael advised him against predicting the outcome of the election, but added that there was "not a great deal" to show for the former SNP leader's previous time in the House.
In what Mr Brown admitted may be his final Commons address, he condemned the Conservative-led administration for claiming it had found a solution to the West Lothian Question in a matter of weeks when an answer had eluded constitutional scholars for more than a century.
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP, who is stepping down, urged Mr Cameron to halt his plans on English votes for English laws (evel), warning that he was throwing away the conclusive result of last year's independence referendum.
Commons leader William Hague confirmed this week that the Tories would seek to create a new legislative stage in the Commons offering an English veto on legislation which does not apply in Scotland - including on the Budget once income tax is devolved to Holyrood.
Mr Brown said the plan created two classes of MPs, a notion which had never proved successful in any country around the world, and ignored the need for the much larger English component of Britain to accommodate voices from its smaller nations.
Surrounded by a "doughnut" of Scottish Labour MPs, Mr Brown said: "It is difficult to find what an English-only bill is - if we take one possible definition, separate and distinct effect, constitutional lawyers say it encompasses just half a dozen bills in 10 years. It makes us ask why it is being put forward?
"This suggests this move is being brought in for other reasons, because the truth is whatever the practical considerations, the real damage of English votes for English laws is not from its mechanical application... the real damage before a veto is imposed is creating the perception the United Kingdom is now only about separate interests and not about a common interest.
"There is a myth the union can survive this new polarisation between Scotland and England. The myth is it is held together by bonds that are so longstanding they can overcome what is seen as a little local difficulty.
"But what may have been true in the aftermath of the Second World War and its shared sacrifice has given way to a new world where none of our ancient institutions are strong enough and popular enough on their own to hold us together.
"The Union cannot survive on mutual respect alone - although it is in short supply at the moment. It will not survive just on the basis of mutual toleration of each other, a minimalist policy of holding each other at a distance for fear we will fight each other.
"The Union will only hold together if there are things the people of our four nations believe they have in common. Only if we emphasise there are common needs and mutual interests and similar values that make us want to cooperate.
"In short, that we do best by sharing... such sharing has to preserve our historic willingness to share, to transfer risk and resources between each other to tackle issues like poverty and unemployment and inequality."
Mr Brown said 18th century premier Lord North is remembered only as the prime minister who lost America from the British empire.
He told the Commons: "This is the statesman's question - can the current Prime Minister ensure he will not be remembered in history as the Lord North of the 21st century when, on September 19 2014, for purely short-term gain, putting party before country, without considering the long-term interests of our united country and ignoring the need to reconcile and bring people together, he could have lit a fuse that eventually blows the union apart."
Mr Carmichael said there would be no easy answer or quick fix to the question.
To rush ahead would risk creating new anomalies to replace the existing ones, he said, and put pressure on the "hinges of the UK".
The Liberal Democrat minister said the "logical and lasting solution" would be the creation of a federal UK, but he accepted that could still be a long way off and called for a constitutional convention to try to build a consensus.
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