Theresa May says 'no economic case' for breaking up United Kingdom
Video report by ITV News correspondent Martin Geissler
Theresa May has said that preserving the union is at the heart of government policy and a "personal priority", as she set out her case for Scotland remaining in the UK.
She said there was "no economic case for breaking up the United Kingdom," and that she would ensure more powers are devolved to Scotland after Brexit.
Speaking at the Scottish Conservative conference in Glasgow, she also accused the SNP government of "tunnel-vision nationalism which focuses only on independence at any cost", and stoking "endless constitutional grievance".
Mrs May attacked the SNP, saying that children are being let down by a party whose only interest lies in leaving the union.
"Scottish schools, which once led the world in setting the highest standards of attainment, are now outperformed in every category by schools in England, Northern Ireland, Estonia and Poland," the prime minister said.
She also criticised Scottish Labour for not holding the SNP-led government to account.
She said: "An SNP government interested only in stoking up endless constitutional grievance and furthering their obsession with independence at the expense of Scottish public services like the NHS and education, was given a free pass by Labour."
Mrs May said "strengthening and sustaining the bonds that unite us" is a "personal priority", and said she was optimistic about the benefits that the union brings to all parts of the UK.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she has a "cast iron mandate" to hold a second referendum after the country voted to remain in the EU while most other parts of the UK voted to leave.
She also said that the SNP has worked to reach a compromise over the terms of Brexit, but said the government "refused to seriously engage".
She added: "And where we have offered compromise, we have been met by a brick wall of Tory intransigence."