Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged yesterday to preserve the United Kingdom (UK) in face of demands for Scottish independence.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he called for pro-union parties to join with business groups and trade unions to campaign against a break-up of the UK. ?Some issues are bigger than party politics and need to be addressed in the common interest?, he said.

His intervention follows a bruising row over the government?s position on whether to support a referendum on Scottish independence.

Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander caused consternation in Westminster and Holyrood earlier this week when she called for an immediate referendum on independence, having previously said such a poll was unnecessary.

Brown defended Alexander as an ?excellent leader? of Labour in Scotland but distanced himself from her call, saying he was personally ?not persuaded? of the case for a referendum.

Support in Scotland for independence after 300 years of union with England varies from poll to poll.