NICOLA Sturgeon has said an independent Scotland could ditch the pound after using it as a “starting point” currency before changing to something else.

However in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland, the First Minister failed to identify what the ultimate currency would be after a Yes vote.

She said that would be fully scrutinised “if” Scotland had a second referendum.

Labour and the Tories said the SNP’s position was “chaotic” and a “shambles”.

The currency of an independent Scotland proved one of the biggest vulnerabilities of the Yes campaign in the 2014 independence referendum, after the UK Government rejected the SNP’s plan to continue using the pound in a formal currency union.

To refresh her party’s thinking on the issue, Ms Sturgeon last year asked corporate lobbyist Andrew Wilson to look at currency options as head of the SNP’s Growth Commission

Ms Sturgeon confirmed she had now seen the Commission’s “interim considerations”.

Asked its position on currency, she said: “We haven’t got to that stage yet. But the starting point for Scotland is we’d use the pound until we decided to do something else.”

She added: “The starting point for an independent Scotland is we’d use the pound. It’s our currency. When we come to an independence referendum - if we come to an independence referendum - these issues will be subject to the greatest of scrutiny.”

She said Scotland would not join the Euro, despite new EU member countries being asked to commit to membership, because there was “no rule that forces any member“ to do so.

She said: “That is just a statement of fact, that no country can be forced to join the Euro.”

Ms Sturgeon also repeated comments she made on Sunday that an independent Scotland might have to take a “phased approach” to re-joining the EU after Brexit.

She said the country might initially access the EU single market as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) alongside Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

She admitted such an interim arrangement was “not necessarily desirable”.

She also confirmed Scotland would need to make financial contributions to Europe to get single market membership, and did not quibble with a figure of £100 per person, which Norway pays.

That would suggest a bill for Scotland of around £540m a year.

She said the final cost would be subject to negotiation, but pointed out Scotland already made contributions to the EU as part of the UK..

Asked about the £100 per head figure in Norway, she said: “That is the case. Scotland would have to make contributions to be part of the single market. The single market is an organisation where you get a lot of benefits in terms of free trade and economic benefits.

“Yes, countries make contributions to that.”

She went on: “I want Scotland to be in the EU. In the future I would want an independent Scotland to be in the EU.

“I am not in charge of the Brexit process. It is possible, not necessarily desirable, but possible that for a period Scotland would be in EFTA and the EEA [European Economic Area].

“The bottom line though is that our single market membership should be protected.”

Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “The SNP knows its chaotic approach on issues like currency helped Scots reach the conclusion we are better off part of the UK.

“Yet still Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t seem to have any coherent position on this.

“To simply say a separate Scotland would blithely use the pound until something better came along is flimsy, insincere and further damages the SNP’s reputation on the economy.”

Scottish Labour’s economy spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “The people of Scotland deserve some answers from Nicola Sturgeon.

“Her currency plans for an independent Scotland are a shambles.

“Nicola Sturgeon is the person who wants to use this General Election to threaten a second independence referendum, yet she refuses to give voters the clarity they need.

“SNP politicians have caused weeks of confusion, and now the First Minister has simply added to that.

“The currency we use really matters. It's about how much money we have to spend on schools and hospitals, what money wages and pensions will be paid in, and will determine how families pay the bills. The Nationalists want to drag Scotland out of the UK but haven't even worked out the basics like currency.”