Storm as Lang waves the Union flag

required even if the SNP won a majority of seats north of the Border.

In a provocative speech to the Tory conference in Bournemouth, Mr Lang

also poured scorn on Labour's plans for a Scottish parliament.

''You cannot just carve off a little bit of sovereignty, send it up to

Edinburgh and let everything else go on as before. Mr Tony Blair may

like to pretend that Scotland can have her cake and eat it. The truth

is, and I for one acknowledge it, she cannot.

''Even if some temporary, uneasy equilibrium could eventually be

reached, what kind of relationship would Scotland and England have, with

separate parliaments in Edinburgh and London?

''I have no doubt that there would soon be first tension, then

disagreement, then open hostility, with the Scottish Nationalists

unappeased, fanning the flames of discord. Soon Scotland and England

would be staring into the abyss of complete separation and the United

Kingdom would be disunited and destroyed.

''It could happen. This union of nations cannot be held together

without democratic consent. If it ever became the preponderant and

settled view of the people of Scotland that they wanted to pull out of

the UK it could be done. We could just pull it apart and go our separate

ways. But what a terrible, retrograde and destructive step that would be

for all of us.''

Mr Alex Salmond, SNP leader, accused Mr Rifkind of ''tub-thumping''

while Mr George Robertson, Shadow Scottish Secretary, said he was

endangering the Union.

Mr Lang, who was given a lengthy, flag-waving, foot-stamping standing

ovation at the conference, laid strong emphasis on what he believes

would be the heavy price Scotland would have to pay if Labour's plans

for a Scottish parliament ever came to fruition.

There would, he made clear, have to be negotiations with the United

Kingdom Parliament, over a range of issues, such as representation in

the UK Cabinet, the level of Scottish representation at Westminster, and

the ''substantial'' resources devoted by the UK Government to Scotland.

Mr Lang told the conference: ''Our constitution is very finely

balanced. It has checks and balances. The creation of a Scottish

parliament with tax-raising powers would tip the scales dramatically.

The consequences of its establishment would not stop at Berwick. They

would continue all the way to London and the Parliament of the Union.''

The Scottish Secretary also warned that Mr Blair's pledge to bring in

legislation for a Scottish parliament and a Welsh assembly in the first

year of a Labour government was a ''failure of judgment of massive

proportions''.

The Bill would be so big and would take so long to go through

Parliament that there would be no time for any other legislation.

Mr Lang said: ''I think it is time to be tough on Blair and tough on

the causes of Blair. When he says he is going to put constitutional

reform at the centre of Labour's campaign for the next election I have

just one thing to say -- go ahead, make my day.''

He said Scotland had prospered as a member of the UK. Living standards

had been rising, unemployment falling, and it had become a ''paradise''

for inward investment.

He told the representatives: ''If our success is to be sustained into

the next century then so must be the Union. In just a few years' time we

will celebrate 300 years of Union. It has given this country her

greatest days but now it must be nurtured for the future.''

Despite the warmth of the audience's reaction to his speech, his

political opponents believe that Mr Lang will have difficulty in the

future arguing that constitutional change will be wrong for Scotland,

while the Government is in discussions about constitutional change in

Northern Ireland.

Mr Salmond said Mr Lang was waving the Union flag for a middle England

audience. ''It is the wrong flag for Scotland,'' he added.

For Labour, Mr Robertson was also unimpressed. He described the

speeches of Mr Lang and the Prime Minister as the ''same dreary mixture

of complacency and arrogance''.

He continued: ''To go on contemptously ignoring Scottish demands for

constitutional change is to endanger the United Kingdom.''

Mr Robertson claimed that the Tories were rattled by the popularity of

Labour's devolution plans, which was why there had been so much

''hysterical abuse'' this week.

Labour's proposals for a Scottish parliament did not threaten the

Union, but threatened the Tories and the Nationalists, he said.

The conference debate on devolution was opened by Mr Ralph Leishman

from Greenock and Port Glasgow who pointed out that Scotland already had

considerable devolution and that more would be forthcoming through the

''taking stock'' reforms.

He said: ''Scotland is a nation within the Union with a recognition of

different national identities but if Scotland were to turn inwards to

look at constitutional reorganisation it would be a disaster. It would

result in Scotland embracing socialism and ultimately it would result in

Scotland embracing nationalism.''

Another Scottish speaker in the debate, Mrs Nanette Milne, a district

councillor from Aberdeen, said: ''I have only one message for you this

morning and that is please do not assume that the whole of Scotland is

crying out for constitutional change, whatever you are told by the other

parties and the media.''

The conference motion, agreeing with the Prime Minister's view that

devolution would lead to the break-up of the Union and calling on the

Government to follow its present policies, was carried unanimously.

' You cannot just carve off a little bit of sovereignty, send it up to

Edinburgh and let everything else go on as before '

Scottish Secretary Ian Lang