Alex Salmond will launch his blueprint for a Yes vote today amid claims taxpayers could be forced to stump up an extra £1,000 a year to plug an independence financial black hole.
The document is entitled Scotland’s Future Your Guide to an Independent Scotland. It will include 650 questions and answers on the impact of a Yes vote to provide the “most comprehensive blueprint for an independent country that has ever been produced”, according to Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The document will be available online from around 10am at scotreferendum.com and in hard copy and e-reader form.
However, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has written to the First Minister after Westminster civil servants analysed data from a recent Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) report..embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }
He said: “Treasury officials calculate that, all else equal, an independent Scotland would need to grow at almost 2% per year more than the UK for the next 50 years to get back to the IFS’s projection for the UK’s debt position.
“No European country has managed the required average growth rate over the last 50 years.”
Ms Sturgeon has asked people to read the White Paper and make up their own minds.
She said: “The guide and the answers it provides will show clearly and simply the difference that we can make in Scotland if decisions on Scotland’s future are taken by those who care most about Scotland that is the people of Scotland.”
See coverage throughout the day at www.thecourier.co.uk and full analysis in Wednesday’s Courier.