SNP begins work on indyref2 white paper

The SNP have begun working on a new white paper that will be put to the public when a second Scottish independence referendum is called.

Picture: Neil Hanna

MPs at Westminster and MSPs at Holyrood have formed committees on key policy areas as they look to compile a blueprint that will spell out how an independent Scotland could operate a growing economy and answer the question as to what currency the country would use.

Opponents of independence have pointed to the GERS figures which show that Scotland would have an annual deficit of 14.8 billion in support of their argument while the currency issue is widely recognised to have damaged the nationalist cause in 2014.

Nicola Sturgeon has appointed a growth committee chaired by former MSP and now lobbyist Andrew Wilson to examine the key economic challenges that would face an independent Scotland.

The Times quotes a source within the SNP: “There is a job of work to be done analysing how an independent Scotland would meet the changed circumstances - everything has changed.

“The timing of a referendum will take care of itself when that work has all been done. But we have to put the building blocks in place.”

Prior to the September 2014 referendum, the Scottish Government published its white paper on independence entitled ‘Scotland’s Future’ which attempted to map out Scotland’s future as an independent nation.

How the Yes camp faced repeated criticism over uncertainty relating to currency and Europe.