Nicola Sturgeon promises new ‘Scottish pound’ and no passports to visit England – as she lays out economic plan for independence

There will be a new Scottish pound if the country breaks away from the UK but talk of passports to get to England is “utter nonsense”, Scotland’s first minister has said.

Nicola Sturgeon said she would establish the currency “as soon as practicable” if the nation became independent.

She also said “border arrangements would be required to ensure continued trade in goods and services across the UK”.

Ms Sturgeon made the announcements as she outlined the economic case for a second referendum on independence – a proposal fiercely resisted by the Westminster government.

She said the timing of a currency wouldn’t be determined by a fixed timetable but by “objective requirements” and led by the central bank and subject to a decision by the Scottish Parliament.

“This paper sets out in detail a careful and responsible phased approach, as well as the arrangements necessary to support a new currency and in the shorter term, for continued use of sterling,” she said.

The Scottish leader said leaving the UK would mean her nation staying in the common travel area with the rest of the UK and Ireland.

“That means any talk of passports to visit relatives in England is utter nonsense,” she said.

“Free movement of people across our islands will continue as before.”

She reiterated that Scotland would seek to rejoin the European Union but admitted it would be a “particularly lengthy process” that would raise border issues of the sort that have plagued Northern Ireland.

“What Brexit does mean, though, when Scotland returns to the EU, is that border arrangements will be required to ensure continued trade in goods and services across the UK,” said Ms Sturgeon.

“None of this is insurmountable, but it does require proper planning.”

She said the newly released economic prospectus detailed arrangements for tackling the issue.

“We set out here the mechanisms by which necessary checks can be carried out in a way that allows smoother trade to continue and makes clear that we would provide support to traders to adapt,” the first minister said.

Scots voted to stay in the UK during a vote in 2014 that was meant to be a once in a generation event.

However, supporters of independence say Brexit has radically changed the situation and justifies a new referendum, as a majority of Scots also backed the UK remaining in the EU.

Ms Sturgeon wants to hold the vote in October 2023 if the legality of arranging one can be worked out. The UK Supreme Court is considering if the Scottish Parliament needs the permission of Westminster to approve a potential referendum bill.

Truss ‘without a shred of credibility’

The first minister also sharply criticised Liz Truss over the turmoil caused by the government’s mini-budget.

She said the chancellor’s announcement today would deliver stability but it was an “understatement” that the prime minister and the government have been left “without a shred of credibility”.

The first minister called it a “self-inflicted crisis” for Liz Truss and said it was “glaringly obvious that UK does not offer economic stability or financial security”.

Ms Sturgeon said Scotland faced “austerity, low growth, wages and living standards stagnant” if it stayed in the UK.

“The price of this for people across Scotland will be heavy,” she added.

“Independence is not an abstract argument, separate from people’s daily lives. It has at its heart ambition, and crucially, it equips us with the essential tools to build a fairer, wealthier, greener, happier country,” said the first minister.

Today’s economic prospectus is the third in a series of papers entitled Building A New Scotland, which press the case for independence.

Political rivals criticised the plans, with Daniel Johnson, Scottish Labour’s finance spokesman, saying the SNP needed to “drop the spin and come clean with people about the catastrophic reality of their economic plans”.

Liz Smith, the Scottish Conservative’s finance spokesman, said Ms Sturgeon’s party had “never been able to make a convincing economic case for independence, and this paper doesn’t change that”.

“Nationalists are consistently unable to address the big questions that the public want answered about independence – on currency, on pensions and about how a hard border would impact our trade with the rest of the UK,” the MSP said.