The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Nicola Sturgeon restarts independence drive
New breakaway blueprint to be unveiled
Nicola Sturgeon will relaunch her independence drive this week with a long-awaited report laying out the economic case for separation.
The SNP’s new independence masterplan is expected to back a Scottish pound when it is published on Friday. The first minister said the report will “restart a debate” on Scotland’s constitutional future and will shift the national conversation from the “despair” of Brexit to the “ambition and hope” of secession.
According to reports, the 400-page Growth Commission study will opt for a Scottish currency, following a transition period when the country continues to Sterling unofficially.
Speaking on Peston on Sunday, Ms Sturgeon said: “Over the next couple of weeks we will, I suppose, restart a debate about why independence for Scotland is an opportunity and what those opportunities are. As you know, we’ve had a Growth Commission looking at the economic opportunities of independence. Its report will be published in the coming days.
“I think that’s quite an important moment because if you think of the last couple of years in the UK it’s been very much a debate about how we cope with the damage of Brexit.
“What I think Scotland now has the opportunity to do is look at how we seize the opportunities that lie ahead, so a debate based very much on ambition and hope, not a debate that’s based on despair, which is how the Brexit debate so often feels.”
The Growth Commission was formed in 2016 in the wake of the Brexit vote and is headed up by former SNP MSP and RBS economist Andrew Wilson.
Senior figures in the party have admitted that uncertainty over the currency was a key factor in losing the 2014 referendum.
The report will look to win over those Scots who rejected independence because of economic concerns.
In recent months, Ms Sturgeon has been under pressure from across the Yes movement.
Earlier this month at least 35,000 people took to the streets of Glasgow demanding a second independence referendum.
The first minister said she still planned to revisit the question of Indyref2 timing in the autumn, when the terms of Brexit are timetabled to be published.