Critics accuse SNP of wilfully ignoring uncertainties of Scottish independence

Scotland’s

first minister Alex Salmond is unable to guarantee Scots that they will be able to use sterling as their currency if they vote for independence, critics have charged.

Former British chancellor of the exchequer, Labour’s Alistair Darling, said yesterday’s White Paper had “ducked the opportunity to answer the big questions about Scotland’s future”.

“It is a fantasy to say we can leave the UK but still keep all the benefits of UK membership,” said Mr Darling, who leads the Better Together campaign opposing independence.

Labour MSP Drew Smith, speaking later in the Holyrood parliament, asked deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon whether she accepted that the people of England had a right to reject a currency union.

Sturgeon replied that the Scottish National Party (SNP) was not proposing a euro zone-style union, but rather one with weaker budgetary checks – though it is far from clear how this could be made to work.

Scottish secretary, Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael, said the Scottish government had "deliberately sought to ignore the uncertainties and difficulties of independence.

“We are asked to accept that ending a 300-year United Kingdom will be straightforward,” he said.

Uncertainty
The SNP's ability to deliver significant elements of the White Paper – on the currency, the share of the UK's debt that Scots would pay, or EU membership terms – is debatable.

The uncertainty prompted a leading constitutional academic, Prof Robert Hazell of University College London, to warn that a second referendum might be needed.

Under current plans, the Scottish Government hopes to win the September 2014 referendum, followed by 18 months of negotiations before Scotland would become independent in March 2016.

However, Prof Hazell warned there would be “a strong case” for a second vote if the White Paper “turns out to have been a false prospectus”, if its pledges cannot be delivered.

“The terms of independence will then be known. They may be very different from the aspirations of 2014. In the second referendum the people of Scotland could then be asked, Do you still want (it)?”.