Nicola Sturgeon has refused to say how lengthy it'll take to launch a brand new foreign money if Scots vote for independence at a future referendum.
The First Minister unveiled a 108-page report on the financial system in the present day which argued Scotland might not afford to stay with Westminster.
The SNP chief stated Scots would nonetheless have the ability to proceed utilizing the pound for so long as it took to finalise a alternative.
However she was unable to place a timescale on the method which her opponents claimed was “a harmful recipe for years of chaos”.
Talking at a press convention at her official residence in Edinburgh, the First Minister stated constructing "a stronger, fairer and extra sustainable” financial system was extra possible with independence than remaining within the UK.
She admitted there could be checks on the motion of products between Scotland and England within the occasion of independence - however denied Scots confronted the prospect of exhibiting passports to go to relations south of the Border.
The doc detailed her authorities’s proposals for the creation of a separate Scottish pound - however the First Minister repeatedly refused to offer a timescale for transferring to the brand new foreign money.
She argued that doing so could be irresponsible because it might result in the change going down at a time which was not supreme for the financial system.
Underneath her plan a Scottish Central Financial institution could be established after the vote for independence.
It could report on financial situations and "construct credibility" following independence with the Scottish Parliament making the ultimate resolution on when to maneuver to the brand new foreign money.
"Why don’t we put a specific time scale on that? As a result of we take into account that may not be accountable,” the First Minister stated.
"One of many standards for the precise time at which that transfer is made could be the general financial situations and, subsequently, in case you tie your self into a particular timescale, you possibly can find yourself making an attempt to do it at a time that may not be optimum.”
The First Minister, reiterating what was stated within the paper, advised journalists the transfer would come “as quickly as practicable”.
When requested if the time scale could possibly be 5 or 10 years, the First Minister stated she hoped it could take much less time than that.
Membership of the European Union – one of many Scottish Authorities’s key arguments for independence – wouldn't be doable till Scotland has management of its financial coverage and foreign money.
The First Minister stated negotiations for entry to the bloc might go ahead in the course of the transition part to a brand new foreign money.
In an effort to create the Scottish pound, the Scottish Authorities must arrange a central financial institution, the method for which the paper stated would begin instantly after a vote for independence.
The paper additionally burdened the financial advantages of eradicating commerce obstacles as an unbiased Scotland rejoins the EU.
Sturgeon stated free motion across the UK and Eire was already assured underneath the Widespread Journey Space association.
However the paper admitted there could be checks on items transferring between Scotland and England to satisfy EU legal guidelines.
Daniel Johnson, Scottish Labour spokesman on the financial system, stated: 'Whereas financial chaos reigns, the SNP is targeted on plunging Scotland into even higher turmoil.
"The reality is that this – the SNP authorities has no solutions to the important thing financial questions surrounding independence.
"They haven't any plan for a central financial institution worthy of the identify and no plan to steadiness the books within the occasion of independence.
"Scotland utilizing the foreign money of one other state with out a shared political system is a recipe for mayhem.
"These with mortgages are proper to be alarmed at this slapdash fiscal coverage. The SNP’s plan for householders to repay mortgages in a distinct foreign money is a catastrophe ready to occur.
"What Nicola Sturgeon and her nationalist authorities plan to do is to drive Scotland into a long time of financial chaos and austerity in order that they will pursue their constitutional obsession."
To enroll to the Each day File Politics publication, click on right here.