We meet in a week that could change the United Kingdom forever.<br>Indeed, it could end the United Kingdom as we know it.<br>On Thursday, Scotland votes, and the future of our country is at stake.<br>On Friday, people could be living in a different country, with a different place in the world and a different future ahead of it.<br>This is a decision that could break up our family of nations, and rip Scotland from the rest of the UK.<br>And we must be very clear.<br>There's no going back from this.<br>No re-run.<br>This is a once-and-for-all decision.<br>If Scotland votes yes, the UK will split, and we will go our separate ways forever.<br>When people vote on Thursday they are not just voting for themselves, but for their children and grandchildren and the generations beyond.<br>So I want to speak directly to the people of this country today about what is at stake.<br> UNITED KINGDOM<br>I speak for millions of people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland - and many in Scotland, too...<br>...who would be utterly heart-broken by the break-up of the United Kingdom.<br>Utterly heart-broken to wake up on Friday morning to the end of the country we love...<br>...to know that Scots would no longer join with the English, Welsh and Northern Irish in our Army, Navy and Air Force...<br>...in our UK-wide celebrations and commemorations...<br>...in UK sporting teams from the Olympics to the British Lions.<br>The United Kingdom would be no more.<br>No UK pensions, no UK passports, no UK pound.<br>The greatest example of democracy the world has ever known, of openness...<br>...of people of different nationalities and faiths coming together as one, would be no more.<br>It would be the end of a country that launched the Enlightenment, that abolished slavery...<br>...that drove the industrial revolution, that defeated fascism...<br>...the end of a country that people around the world respect and admire...<br>... the end of a country that all of us call home.<br>And we built this home together.<br>It's only become Great Britain because of the greatness of Scotland.<br>Because of the thinkers, writers, artists, leaders, soldiers, inventors who have made this country what it is.<br>It's Alexander Fleming and David Hume; J.K. Rowling and Andy Murray...<br>...and all the millions of people who have played their part in this extraordinary success story...<br>...the Scots who led the charge on pensions and the NHS and on social justice.<br>We did all this together.<br>For the people of Scotland to walk away now would be like painstakingly building a home - and then walking out the door and throwing away the keys.<br>So I would say to everyone voting on Thursday, please remember.<br>This isn't just any old country. This is the United Kingdom. This is our country.<br>And you know what makes us truly great?<br>It's not our economic might or military prowess - it's our values.<br>British values.<br>Fairness. Freedom. Justice.<br>The values that say wherever you are, whoever you are, your life has dignity and worth.<br>The values that say we don't walk on by when people are sick...<br>...that we don't ask for your credit card in the hospital...<br>...that we don't turn our backs when you get old and frail.<br>...that we don't turn a blind eye or a cold heart to people around the world who are desperate and crying out for help.<br>This is what Britain means.<br>This is what makes us the greatest country on earth.<br>And it's why millions of us could not bear to see that country ending - for good, for ever - on Friday.<br> CONSEQUENCES<br>Now I know that there are many people across Scotland who are planning to vote Yes.<br>I understand why this might sound appealing.<br>It's the promise of something different.<br>I also know that the people who are running the Yes campaign are painting a picture of a Scotland that is better in every way, and they can be good at painting that picture.<br>But when something looks too good to be true - that's usually because it is.<br>And it is my duty to be clear about the likely consequences of a Yes Vote.<br>Independence would not be a trial separation...<br>...it would be a painful divorce.<br>And as Prime Minister I have to tell you what that would mean.<br>It would mean we no longer share the same currency.<br>It would mean the armed forces we have built up together over centuries being split up forever.<br>It would mean our pension funds sliced up - at some cost.<br>It would mean the borders we have would become international and may no longer be so easily crossed.<br>It would mean the automatic support that you currently get from British embassies when you're travelling around the world would come to an end.<br>It would mean over half of Scottish mortgages suddenly, from one day to the next, being provided by banks in a foreign country.<br>It would mean that interest rates in Scotland are no longer set by the Bank of England - with the stability and security that promises.<br>It would mean - for any banks that remain in Scotland - if they ever got in trouble it would be Scottish taxpayers and Scottish taxpayers alone that would bear the costs.<br>It would mean that we no longer pool resources across the whole of the UK to pay for institutions like the NHS or our welfare system.<br>This is not guesswork. There are no question marks, no maybe this or maybe that.<br>The Nationalists want to break up UK funding on pensions, the UK funding of healthcare, the UK funding and comprehensive protection on national security.<br>These are the facts. This is what would happen. An end to the things we share together.<br>And the people of Scotland must know these facts before they make this once-and-for-all decision.<br>To warn of the consequences is not to scare-monger...<br>...it is like warning a friend about a decision they might take that will affect the rest of their lives - and the lives of their children.<br>I say all this because I don't want the people of Scotland to be sold a dream that disappears.<br> CHANGE<br>Now I know that some people say: we've heard about the risks and the uncertainties...<br>...but we still want change.<br>Look. The United Kingdom is not a perfect country - no country is.<br>Of course we must constantly change and improve people's lives.<br>No-one is content while there are still children living in poverty.<br>No-one is content while there are people struggling, and young people not reaching their potential.<br>Yes, every political party is different.<br>But we are all of us - Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems, Nationalists - on a constant mission to change our country for the better.<br>The question is: how do you get that change?<br>For me it's simple.<br>You don't get the change you want by ripping your country apart.<br>You don't get change by undermining your economy and damaging your businesses and diminishing your place in the world.<br>But you can get real, concrete change on Thursday: if you vote No.<br>'Business as usual' is not on the ballot paper.<br>The status quo is gone.<br>This campaign has swept it away.<br>There is no going back to the way things were.<br>A vote for No means real change.<br>And we have spelled that change out in practical terms, with a plan and a process.<br>If we get a No vote on Thursday, that will trigger a major, unprecedented programme of devolution with additional powers for the Scottish Parliament.<br>Major new powers over tax, spending and welfare services.<br>We have agreed a timetable for that stronger Scottish Parliament: a time-table to bring in the new powers that will go ahead if there is a No vote...<br>...a White Paper by November, put into draft legislation by January.<br><br>This is a timetable that is now agreed by all the main political parties and set in stone...<br>...and I am prepared to work with all the main parties to deliver this during 2015.<br>So a No vote actually means faster, fairer, safer and better change.<br>And this is a vital point:<br>Scotland is not an observer in the affairs of this country.<br>Scotland is shaping and changing the United Kingdom for the better - more so today than at any point in the last three hundred years...<br>...and will continue to help shape the constitution of our country.<br>And Scottish people can enjoy the additional powers its Parliament gives without losing the UK pension, the UK pound or the UK passport.<br>Real change is Scotland's for the taking.<br>The power to set your own course and make your own decisions...<br>...with the security of being in the UK...<br>...without the risks of going it alone.<br>It's the best of both worlds.<br>Scotland's identity is already strong...<br>...strong Scottish culture, strong Scottish arts, a strong Church of Scotland...<br>...and in the last 15 years you have built a strong Scottish Parliament...<br>...not a fleeting institution but a permanent one.<br>So the vote on Thursday is not about whether Scotland is a nation.<br>Scotland is a proud, strong, successful nation.<br>The vote on Thursday is about two competing visions for Scotland's future.<br>The Nationalists' vision of narrowing down, going it alone, breaking all ties with the UK.<br>Or the patriotic vision of a strong Scottish nation allied to the rest of the United Kingdom...<br>...with its own stronger Scottish Parliament at its heart...<br>...and with the benefits of working together in the UK on jobs, pensions, healthcare funding, the currency, interest rates.<br>It really is the best of both worlds...<br>...and it's the best way to get real change and secure a better future for your children and grandchildren.<br> FAMILY OF NATIONS<br>And speaking of family - that is quite simply how I feel about this.<br>We are a family.<br>The United Kingdom is not one nation.<br>We are four nations in a single country.<br>That can be difficult....<br>...but it is wonderful.<br>Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland...<br>....different nations, with individual identities...<br>...competing with each other...<br>...even at times enraging each other...<br>...while still being so much stronger together.<br>We are a family of nations.<br>Why should the next generation of that family be forced to choose whether to identify only with Edinburgh or only with London...<br>...choose which embassy they want to go to when they are in trouble abroad...<br>...or pack their passport when they're going to see friends and loved ones.<br>A family is not a compromise, or a second best, it is a magical identity, that makes us more together than we can ever be apart...<br>...so please - do not break this family apart.<br>In human relations it's almost never a good thing to turn away from each other, put up walls, score new lines on the map.<br>Why would we take one Great Britain and turn it into separate smaller nations?<br>What is that an answer to?<br>How will that help the ambitious young people who want to make their mark on the world...<br>...or the pensioner who just wants security...<br>...or the family relying on jobs make in the UK?<br>Let no-one fool you that 'Yes' is a positive vision.<br>It's about dividing people, closing doors, making foreigners of our friends and family.<br>This isn't an optimistic vision.<br>The optimistic vision is of our family of nations staying together...<br>...there for each other in the hard times...<br>...coming through to better times.<br>We've just pulled through a great recession together.<br>We're moving forward together.<br>The road has been long but it is finally leading upwards...<br>...and that's why I ask you to vote No to walking away.<br>Vote No - and you are voting for a bigger and broader and better future for Scotland...<br>...and you are investing in the future for your children and grandchildren.<br> PLEASE STAY<br>So this is our message to the people of Scotland.<br>We want you to stay.<br>Head and heart and soul, we want you to stay.<br>Please: don't mix up the temporary and the permanent.<br>Don't think: I'm frustrated with politics right now, so I'll walk out the door and never come back.<br>If you don't like me - I won't be here forever.<br>If you don't like this Government - it won't last forever.<br>But if you leave the UK - that will be forever.<br>Yes, the different parts of the UK don't always see eye-to-eye.<br>Yes, we need change - and we will deliver it.<br>But to get that change, to get a brighter future, we don't need to tear our country apart.<br>In two days, this long campaign will be at an end.<br>And as you stand in the stillness of the polling booth, I hope you will ask yourself this.<br>Will my family and I truly be better off by going it alone?<br>Will we really be more safe and secure?<br>Do I really want to turn my back on the rest of Britain, and why is it that so many people across the world are asking: why would Scotland want to do that? Why?<br>And if you don't know the answer to these questions - then vote No.<br>At the end of the day, all the arguments of this campaign can be reduced to a single fact.<br>We are better together.<br>So as you reach your final decision, please:<br>Don't let anyone tell you that you can't be a proud Scot and a proud Brit.<br>Don't lose faith in what this country is - and what we can be.<br>Don't forget what a great United Kingdom you are part of.<br>Don't turn your backs on what is the best family of nations in the world...<br>...and the best hope for your family in this world.<br>So please, from all of us: Vote to stick together... Vote to stay...<br>...Vote to save our United Kingdom.