Hard-line nationalists have defaced pound coins as part of a campaign to undemocratically declare Scottish independence.
The Queen’s head has been replaced with a holographic sticker, expertly cut to fit on the currency, which backs the “Scottish UDI Movement”. UDI stands for Unilateral Declaration of Scottish Independence.
One coin turned up at a Dundee business, causing shock amongst employees.
A worker who discovered the defaced cash said: “I went to buy a chocolate orange bar and pulled this funny-looking coin out of my pocket. I must have picked it up in change without realising.
“It was pretty weird but it seems like someone is trying to make a point.”
Murdo Fraser, the Conservative Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, said: “After the troubles that the Yes campaign had on the currency issue, it now appears that some more extreme members have taken the matter into their own hands by defacing pound coins.
“I hope the public won’t be fooled by these tactics and that anyone who receives these dodgy designs will hand them straight back. The pound sterling has served us very well as a currency and we shouldn’t be defacing it.”
A Scottish Labour source said: “The resistance appear to be doing more serious thinking about the currency of an independent Scotland than the SNP have.”
Alex Salmond flirted with the idea of UDI in his final speech as SNP leader to the party’s conference in Perth but the former First Minister recently cautioned Catalonia against such a move.
The UDI Movement claims 2014’s independence referendum, in which 55% of Scots voted No, was “based on fear and lies and fraud”.
It adds: “We can not (sic) trust the democratic process where our freedom is concerned. No-one is mentioning the riggerendum (sic), it is all being brushed under the carpet.
“If we do not declare Independence now many will suffer. For the people suffering now, 2020 is a life time of misery away.
“We must act now. We have been denied our Sovereign Right and are perfectly within our Constitutional Rights to Declare Independence.”
The SNP, who have no affiliation with the Scottish UDI, declined to comment.
In 2006, an Edinburgh taxi firm was criticised by the Royal Mint for attaching promotional stickers to £1 coins in an advertising campaign. The move was not thought to be illegal.