Sturgeon to relaunch campaign for Scottish independence

NICOLA STURGEON announced yesterday that she is to “restart” her campaign for Scottish independence as she prepares for a long-awaited revamp of the Scottish National Party’s economic blueprint this week that could result in her ditching the pound.

The First Minister said the imminent publication of a report by the SNP’S Economic Growth Commission, set up in 2016, would be an “important moment” in her battle to break up the UK.

The Sunday Post reported that the 400-page document will recommend that the pound be used in a transition period after independence before moving to a new Scottish currency that would initially be pegged to sterling.

An independent Scotland would give wealthy investors preferential treatment under its immigration system using a “golden visa” scheme, the Post reported, in an attempt to increase the country’s sluggish growth rates. On ITV’S Peston on Sunday, Ms Sturgeon said a new debate about independence would bring “hope” to Scotland rather than the “despair” caused by Brexit.

She made the intervention as Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader,

‘We will restart a debate about why independence is an opportunity and what those opportunities are’

warned it was “foolish” to assume that the threat of Scottish independence has gone away. She said Ms Sturgeon has “staked her reputation within the SNP on delivering a second attempt”.

Ms Sturgeon’s demand for a second independence referendum triggered a backlash from Scottish voters in last year’s snap general election. But under pressure from SNP members for a rerun, she has pledged to announce a new timetable in the autumn. Her commission, chaired by former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson, will make recommendations on increasing an independent Scotland’s economic growth, on reducing its deficit, on monetary policy and immigration.

Failing to resolve the question over a separate Scotland’s currency was a pivotal weakness of the 2014 Yes campaign after then chancellor, George Osborne, rejected the Nationalists’ preferred option of a currency union to allow Scotland to officially use the pound, backed by the Bank of England.

Ms Sturgeon refused to disclose her preferred timing for another vote, but said: “Of course 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.

“If you think about the last couple of years in the UK it has been very much a debate about how we cope with the damage of Brexit.”