Crisis, but guess what they’re still obsessing about...

HUMZA Yousaf has been accused of being ‘woefully out of touch’ as he spends his first full day in charge of a minority government talking about independence.

The First Minister is due to deliver a speech on the labour market in an independent Scotland, the day after opposition leaders called for a no confidence vote in him.

It comes after ministers launched the latest instalment of the SNP’s independence prospectus yesterday, at the same time as the Greens were dumped from government.

But new figures show the cost to the taxpayer of the separation crusade is set to soar beyond £4million. The Scotland in Union campaign group said more than £3.8million has already been spent on independence during the current parliamentary term.

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, commented: ‘This is an astronomical waste of taxpayers’ money. With record NHS waiting lists, horrifying levels of child poverty and economic stagnation, the government’s spending priorities should not be its constitutional obsession. The SNP is woefully out of touch with Scotland – it’s time for the people’s priorities.’

Yesterday’s paper, on ‘justice in an independent Scotland’, was the 13th in the ‘Building a New Scotland’ independence series.

The papers are written and produced by independent civil servants despite concerns that they should not be asked to work on issues around the constitution, which is reserved to Westminster.

The justice system is already devolved to Scotland. But the paper claimed that independence would allow Scotland ‘to take its own decisions to address issues such as drugs and gambling’.

Scottish Government figures show that £207,047 has been spent on the 13 independence papers, including design, formating and publication, language translations and printed copies.

Scotland in Union said the total cost of the constitutional futures division, which is responsible for writing the papers, has been £2.97million during the current parliamentary term.

In addition, the Minister for Independence appointed by Mr Yousaf costs an extra £31,854 a year, while his private secretary costs up to £37,936.

The SNP Government’s Supreme Court defeat on the power to hold an independence referendum also cost the public purse £251,729.

Mr Yousaf will set out proposals on the labour market in an independent Scotland at a speech at Strathclyde University.

He is expected to argue that an independent Scotland could lead to higher living standards in the country. But powers over the economy and labour market have already been devolved to the Scottish parliament.

The paper on justice yesterday claimed that an independent Scotland would return to the European Arrest Warrant scheme, set out new policies on drug policy reform and gambling, fully incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law, and protect the European Convention on Human Rights.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: ‘Scotland’s justice system has a distinguished history and I am proud of the work we have done. The level of recorded crime has fallen to near 50-year lows and homicides are at their lowest levels since comparable records began.

‘However, there is more we could do with independence.’

‘There is more we could do’