Former UK PM warns of Yes vote 'trapdoor'

He also dismissed reports of concern among MPs in the UK regions about the new powers on offer to Scotland if it votes No, insisting “the rest of the UK I think will be quite happy with these changes”.

Mr Brown addressed hundreds of UK supporters at a community centre in Glasgow, standing shoulder to shoulder with his former Chancellor Alistair Darling, leader of the Better Together campaign, and Scottish leaders from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

He sent out a plea to undecided voters to reject the “risks” of independence.

“To those people that have still got doubts and are wavering, people who were thinking about voting Yes yesterday but could be persuaded today, let us tell them about the real risks,” he said in an address to supporters.

“This is not the fear of the unknown – this is now the risks of the known.

“An economic minefield where problems could implode at any time, an economic trapdoor down which we go from which we might never escape.”

The risks include uncertainty about currency, the threat of a default on debt, rising prices in the shops and the threat to the million jobs dependent on UK trade, he said.

He added: “We will face a massive financial hole that cannot be made up with even a fraction of the oil revenues, a massive financial hole that means the risk to the NHS does not come from us – it comes from the policies of the SNP.

“We’re aware now of the risks but to those that think Scotland will be somehow more progressive under the nationalists – let us tell them of our vision for the future of Scotland.

“Not the Scotland of insults and abuse and threats and recriminations. It is the Scotland of Adam Smith and John Smith, the Scotland of stability and compassion, the Scotland of comradeship and community is bigger and better than what we have seen.”

He added: “We have had no answers. They do not know what they are doing. They are leading us into a trap.”

Speaking after the rally, Mr Brown said the enhanced devolution to Scotland “is not at the expense of the rest of the United Kingdom”.

“The regions and nations in the rest of the UK, I think, will be quite happy with these changes,” he said.

“But I think the offer should be open to them that if they wish to pursue the path of further devolution then that’s a good thing. The old United Kingdom constitution, with its uniform, unitary, centralised, Westminster sovereignty, undiluted, that is all going. That is changing before our eyes.”

English comedian and Better Together activist Eddie Izzard opened the proceedings with a call for Scottish unity, whatever the outcome of the referendum, but insisted saying No was not a negative response.

“Bob Geldof said: ’No can be a positive word if it is saying no to a negative thing’.

“Glasgow was the first city in the world to honour Nelson Mandela, giving him the freedom of the city.

“Scotland said No to apartheid – no to a negative thing – no to poverty and pain, no to the separation between rich and poor and we can, Scotland, say no to this separation from the United Kingdom.”

Mr Darling was led into the hall, packed with hundreds of No supporters, by a lone piper and stood alongside Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie.

One supporter shouted “we love you” as Mr Darling stood to speak.

He said: “Imagine if you woke up on Friday morning to find that the country had voted for separation, how will you feel?”

There were boos and cries of “sick!” from the audience.