New report ‘marks end of flag-waving fantasies’

debate thus far and there certainly isn’t one for Scotland, where the financial controls are so limited.

“What we can see and what we can learn from history is that Britain is the most unequal performing economy by a mile, in Europe and in the industrialised world.

“There is nothing in any of the prospectuses I’ve seen to tackle that problem of regional inequality. All of the risks for Scotland are in doing nothing – sticking with what we’ve got right now.”

The former Nationalist MSP said he “absolutely and emphatically” wants to see another independence referendum which First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is proposing, but said the timing was for political leaders to determine.

“We will require to choose what’s in our best interests at a time when we’re ready,” he said.

“All of the conclusions of the report are that if we want to succeed as a country, to get the same living standards and social cohesion of the countries that we’ve identified, we need to be the same as the most successful countries in the world, which would mean independence.

“The timing for me really is for political leaders to determine. What we’ve tried to do is to say whenever we’re asked to choose, then we will be prepared for it and we’ve got a prospectus which sets out in some detail exactly what we would be starting with.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard launched a stinging attack on the SNP’S record at Holyrood in tackling Conservative austerity.

Mr Leonard used a weekend interviewtocondemntheparty’s record on social equality.

“The Scottish Parliament is not being used as fully as it was designed to be,” he said.

“It should be a bulwark against Tory policies but the SNP are stagnant and timid.”

Mr Leonard insisted his mission was to “fundamentally change” the economic system. The SNP’S Growth Commission marks an end to the “flag-waving fantasies” of previous claims about independence, according to a former economic adviser to the Scottish Government.

The report sets out a sombre outlook to the economic case for leaving the UK, compared with the 2013 White Paper on independence.

Professor John Kay, a former member of Alex Salmond’s Council of Economic Advisers, said it marks a more realistic approach.

“It’s moving from a mindset pre-devolution where you could comfortably and irresponsibly blame other people for everything that went wrong in Scotland to being responsible for it yourself,” he said.

“It’s like teenagers growing up. This is not flagwaving fantasy land any more. It’s saying independence means all the things you don’t like go away.”