A FORMER Better Together campaign adviser has insisted the UK needs to change ... but Scotland should not get a second independence referendum.
Jim Gallagher said in a BBC interview on Tuesday that people in England and Scotland want to see the same transformation in the UK and Scots could lead on that.
But he continued to insist people north of the Border did not want the referendum Nicola Sturgeon is offering, even in the wake of Brexit which he said was a "bad mistake".
Appearing on the Good Morning Scotland show alongside former Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins, Gallagher argued what Scots would prefer is to "find a way to get a better Scotland in a better Britain".
He said: "I don’t think it’s a question of England and Scotland being different politically.
"When you look at Scottish opinion and English opinion, there are people all across England whose view about the change that we need in the UK is exactly the same as the people in Scotland – people in the north of England, people in the cities, people in Newcastle view London government exactly as people in Scotland do.
"The UK is going to have to change and Scotland can be part of that change, maybe even lead it.
"What the Scottish people actually want is to find a way to get a better Scotland in a better Britain, they’d prefer a way of doing that [to an independence referendum]."
Sturgeon is set to make an announcement about a "route map" to indyref2 in Holyrood at around 2.20pm on Tuesday.
The UK Government has consistently said it will not allow a second vote, so the Scottish Government is having to look at other possible ways a legal referendum could be held.
The vote in 2014 was held because Westminster granted a Section 30 order, handing over referendum powers to Holyrood, but it is not anticipated this will happen this time around given Boris Johnson's repeated claims that "now is not the time".
Given that the majority of Scots did not vote for Brexit, the argument the Scottish Government is making is that there has been a fundamental change of circumstances since the last poll in 2014, so people should be given another chance to have their say on independence.
Gallagher said he did not agree with Brexit but insisted a decision should not be made over Scotland's future purely in reaction to Johnson's rocky premiership.
He said: "Brexit is a big thing and in my view, it’s a bad mistake.
"Sadly we’ve got Brexit, I think what’s going to happen over time is we will rebuild our relationship with Europe, though not under the present Government.
"But remember the present Prime Minister is on a shoogly peg at the moment. I don’t think we should make a decision about Scotland’s future in reaction to Boris Johnson."
Jenkins said it would be a "huge mistake" for the UK Government to "obstruct democracy" in Scotland.
He said he hopes the spotlight in Tuesday's announcement will remain on the fact the Scottish Government has a democratic mandate to hold a vote, given the SNP won last year's election on a manifesto of holding one by a landslide.
Jenkins said: "I hope the focus remains very firmly on there’s a clear democratic mandate for this.
"If the UK is serious about being a functioning democracy then there must be another referendum. The mandate is unchallengeable.
"The spotlight has to remain firmly on Boris Johnson and UK Government – are they democrats or are they not?
"It would be a huge mistake for the UK Government to obstruct democracy in Scotland."
