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By Alistair Smout and Guy Faulconbridge EDINBURGH/LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron begged Scots on Wednesday not to rip apart Britain's "family of nations", visiting Scotland in an attempt to stem a steep rise in secessionist support ahead of a Sept. 18 referendum on independence. In a sign of new panic in the British ruling elite over the fate of the 307-year-old union, Cameron and opposition leader Ed Miliband scrapped their weekly question-and-answer session in parliament to speak at separate events in Scotland. "The United Kingdom is a precious and special country." But Cameron, whose job may be on the line if he loses Scotland, tempered the emotion with a clear warning: "If the UK breaks apart, it breaks apart forever." Cameron has until now been largely absent from the debate after conceding that his privileged background and center-right politics mean he is not the best person to win over Scots, who returned just one Conservative lawmaker out of 59 in 2010.More...