Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that there would be no hard border between Scotland and the rest of the UK under independence.
Pressed repeatedly by the BBC’s Andrew Marr about how an independent Scotland would keep the English border open if it became part of the EU the SNP leader promised a solution would be found to avoid Brexit customs regulations.
She said: “We will put in place arrangements and we will negotiate those arrangements with the UK that means that businesses do not in a practical sense, suffer from any of that.”
In a tetchy confrontation with the veteran Scottish broadcaster the First Minister said the details of border arrangements would have to be set out at a later date.
She said: “Of course before we get to a point where we’re asking people to choose whether or not they want Scotland to become independent, which is the choice of the Scottish people, we will set out to all of the implications of independence, all of the advantages of independence, and all of the practical issues that people have to consider so that people make an informed choice.”
She added: “But the difference between that and what we are suffering right now in Scotland is that Brexit has happened to us."
"Our companies right now are having to deal with border issues that have been imposed on us completely against their will. The difference with independence as we look at all of the applications and we make a choice over what is best for Scotland’s interests.”
The SNP leader was cornered on the border issue after one of the party candidates, Emma Harper, claimed last week that more jobs would be created if there was a hard border with England.
Marr told the First Minister that, despite her claims, EU membership would require a border between Scotland and England.
He said: “EU regulations absolutely commit you to a physical border post along the Scotland-England border.
“You may wish Brexit hadn’t happened but it has happened.”
Sturgeon did not deny EU rules but said that Scotland would negotiate with both the UK and EU to ensure “businesses do not suffer”.
She said: “We will keep trade free flowing freely, we will comply with all of the requirements of EU membership but we will put in place arrangements to keep trade flowing.
"Right now people in Scotland,have lost their freedom of movement across the European Union. Right now our rights have been diminished.”
The SNP leader also told Marr that the party has not commissioned work on how independence would affect people’s incomes after an new academic study showed that Scotland’s deficit could have tripled to 24 per cent in the covid pandemic.
She said: “We will do all that as we did in 2014 as we get to an independence referendum.
"If we had done that just over a year ago, before the COVID pandemic struck then obviously that modelling would be out of date because the world has been turned upside down."
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies will this week highlight the gap between Scotland's public spending and tax revenues has risen to between 22 to 25 per cent of GDP – eight times the limit set by the EU – during the pandemic.
The pro-UK Scotland in Union group said it was no surprise no modelling had been done on the costs of independence.
Pamela Nash, of Scotland in Union, said: “Nicola Sturgeon isn’t being honest with the people of Scotland."
She added: “Leaving the UK would require a hard border with England, creating barriers between families and friends, and jeopardising people’s jobs.
“It’s no surprise that the SNP hasn’t done any modelling on the impact that leaving the UK would have on our incomes as it knows it’s likely to be bad news."
