THE former MSP who chaired the SNP Growth Commission has called on his party to back the “softest” version of independence.
In a clear echo of the language used in the Brexit debate, Andrew Wilson said: “What we would be hoping for is the softest of possible changes, compared to the hardest that we are seeing Britain dealing with [in] Europe.
"You want us to be respectful of 300 years of reality. Not just for emotional reasons, but for economic reasons as well.”
- READ MORE: Full interview with Andrew Wilson
Wilson, whose team was asked to reboot the economic case for independence, also warned against tax rises on the rich, describing a 50p income tax as “self-harm”.
However, Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: “There would be nothing ‘soft’ about the SNP’s plans for independence.
“As Andrew Wilson’s Cuts Commission outlined - and experts such as the IFS confirmed - separation would lead to a decade of unprecedented austerity, hitting spending on public services and the welfare state hardest."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel