NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of trying to sell Scottish voters “a pig in a poke” after publishing her economic and currency prospectus for an independent Scotland.
Her Unionist opponents at Holyrood said the third instalment in the Building a New Scotland series was light on detail, misguided in purpose and a “recipe for chaos”.
The 108-page paper covers plans to rejoin the EU, set up a Scottish currency, and invest in infrastructure using a fund based on oil revenue and borrowing.
It says that if Scotland were in the EU and England was still out, it would create a trade border along the Scottish-English border, with checkpoints on the A74(M) and A1.
However it also said unnamed technology could be used to smooth out paperwork and avoid traffic jams.
There is no date given for setting up a new currency, with economic criteria offered instead.
This in turn means there is no date given for Scotland to rejoin the EU, as a new currency would be a first step.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “This illustrates just how thin the economic case for independence is. The SNP are trying to sell Scotland a pig in a poke.
“It's completely the wrong priority at the worst possible time for Scotland. Nicola Sturgeon should be using government resources to help struggling families instead of to push for another divisive and unwanted referendum.”
Scottish Labour dismissed the paper as SNP “pipedreams”.
MSP Daniel Johnson said: “While economic chaos reigns, the SNP is focused on plunging Scotland into even greater turmoil.
“The truth is this – the SNP government has no answers to the key economic questions surrounding independence.
“They have no plan for a central bank worthy of the name and no plan to balance the books in the event of independence.
“Scotland using the currency of another state without a shared political system is a recipe for mayhem.
“Those with mortgages are right to be alarmed at this slapdash fiscal policy. The SNP’s plan for homeowners to pay off mortgages in a different currency is a disaster waiting to happen.”
He added: “What Nicola Sturgeon and her nationalist government plan to do is to drive Scotland into decades of economic chaos and austerity so that they can pursue their constitutional obsession.
“Rather than deliver solutions to this economic crisis, the SNP want to gamble with the finances and public services of the people of Scotland.
“The solution to Tory economic crisis is not SNP economic crisis – it is a reforming Labour government.
“The people of Scotland should not pay the price for the SNP’s independence pipedreams.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Ms Sturgeon’s plan was “a dangerous recipe for years of chaos”.
She said: “When it comes to breaking up the UK no price is too high and no amount of disruption too painful for the SNP. The islanders waiting for ferries, 1 in 7 Scots on NHS waiting lists and parents who believed education was the number one priority have already paid the price for the SNP’s fixation. Nicola Sturgeon wants mortgage holders, pensioners and taxpayers to be next.
“On borders and barriers, she makes the same pie in the sky promises as the Brexiteers, threatening to cut Scotland off from its biggest trading partner. She refused to admit her proposals would leave Scotland outside both the UK and the EU for an untold number of years. Nor can she tell the public how Scotland would build up the necessary foreign currency reserves for her plans to ditch the pound.
“The solution to Tory chaos isn’t to double it with independence, it’s to get Truss and the Tories out of government and bring new hope to the whole United Kingdom.”
But Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer, whose party was involved in crafting the document, said: “This is a positive, optimistic and forward looking vision for an independent Scotland. It demonstrates clearly how the powers of a normal independent nation will let us build an economy that works for people and the planet.
“With Greens in government we are doing all we can to tackle the cost of living and climate emergencies.
“But there is so much more that we could do by taking our future into our own hands and gaining the economic powers of a normal nation, like set a decent minimum wage to eradicate poverty pay.
“By investing in new renewable technologies as we phase out oil and gas, and refocusing on an economy which works for everyone rather than just those at the very top, we can transform Scotland for the better.
“We only need to cast our eyes a few miles north to see how our Nordic neighbours have delivered stable, successful economies by putting people’s wellbeing first.
“Fairer economies are consistently stronger economies.”
Pamela Nash, chief executive of the anti-independence Scotland in Union group, said: “There is no positive economic case for leaving the UK. The First Minister has once again failed to answer the key questions about the consequences of scrapping the pound or building a trade border with England.
“She is making baseless assumptions and is prepared to gamble with other people’s jobs and livelihoods.
“Much of what she outlined is about government policy choice, which doesn’t require the immense cost, division and uncertainty of building a new state.
“The entire focus of government should be on the cost-of-living crisis, not independence – which only a tiny fraction of people in Scotland think should be a priority for ministers.
“As part of the UK we can bring communities together, safeguard people’s pensions and mortgages, and support jobs and livelihoods.”
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