Labour ex-PM Gordon Brown is to outline his ideas for a new division of powers between Edinburgh and Westminster.
Mr Brown, speaking in Glasgow, will argue for reform of the UK to deliver a power-sharing partnership of nations.
Speaking separately, senior Lib Dem MP Sir Menzies Campbell will call for co-operation for enhanced devolution.
Both say Scots want more devolution not independence - but the SNP says only a yes vote in the 18 September referendum will mean more power for Holyrood.
Voters will be asked the yes/no question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
Speaking in the east end of Glasgow later, Mr Brown will propose six "major" constitutional changes to revamp the UK's relationship with Scotland.
End Quote Gordon BrownIf people are asked to support the Union it is crucial that people know what the purpose is and it is no longer left unstated and unexplained"
The MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath is expected to say: "I want to move us from the old highly-centralised, uniform Britain dominated by out-of-date ideas of an undivided Westminster sovereignty to a new diverse power-sharing, risk-sharing, resource-sharing UK which is best defined not as an old union but as a modern, constitutional partnership of nations."
The six changes are:
- A new UK constitutional law to set out the purpose of the UK as pooling and sharing resources for the defence, security and well-being of the citizens of all four nations
- A constitutional guarantee of the permanence of the Scottish Parliament
- A new division of powers between Scotland and Westminster that gives Holyrood more powers in employment, health, transport and economic regeneration
- A new tax sharing agreement that balances the commitment of the UK to pool and share its resources with the need for accountability to the electors in all the places where money is spent
- New power-sharing partnerships to address shared problems on poverty, unemployment, housing need and the environment
- A "radical" transfer of powers downwards from Westminster and Edinburgh to local communities
The former prime minister and chancellor has previously called for legislation to make the Scottish Parliament a permanent and irreversible part of the how Britain is governed, and proposed a written constitution to highlight the importance of pooling resources across the UK.
But he said he was entering the nationwide debate on Scotland's future from Monday "because a moment cannot now be lost in detailing the positive case for a strong Scottish parliament in a strong Britain".
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He said it was "a far bigger, more modern, more forward looking - and ultimately more appealing - idea than that of a wholly separate state".
"The majority of Scottish people do not want separation but equally they do want change, not the status quo. It is now six months from the referendum and time to enact that change," Mr Brown is expected to say:.
"If people are asked to support the Union it is crucial that people know what the purpose is and it is no longer left unstated and unexplained.
"We need to draw up a statement of purpose, that we pool and share resources and risks for the benefit of all."
Mr Brown's plan is to be submitted to the Labour Party's devolution commission and the party's Scottish leader, Johann Lamont.
A spokesman for the pro-independence Yes Scotland campaign said: "We agree with Gordon Brown that the purpose of constitutional change must be to empower people. We also agree with him that Labour and the other anti-independence parties need to spell out what further powers they will guarantee in the event of a No vote.
"But we have heard such promises before and they came to nothing then and they'd come to nothing again. Labour and the Tories cannot even agree among themselves what further powers should be devolved to Scotland.
"The only way to guarantee the powers people want and Scotland needs is to vote Yes on September 18."
In a separate speech in Edinburgh, Sir Menzies will suggest how new tax-raising powers could be delivered to Scotland in the event of a no vote.
Ahead of that address he told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "There are opportunities to set out reasonable, sensible, rational and indeed radical alternatives.
"Gordon Brown's approach, and indeed my approach and indeed the approach of the Lib Dems, is to look at the UK as a whole.
"I am endeavouring to point the way forward so that all of these contributions - for example from devo plus, from Reform Scotland - that all of these contributions make a very, very considerable - and in my view - effective alternative to the narrow minded view of independence."
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