Alex Salmond was pressed on currency plans but hit back at Labour leader Johann Lamont’s description of a host of economic powers as “wee things” during a stormy First Minister’s Questions.
Ms Lamont and Conservative leader Ruth Davidson quizzed Mr Salmond on plans for an independent Scotland to remain part of a currency union with the rest of the UK in the event of a Yes vote in September.
In a speech in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Bak of England Governor Mark Carney said an effective union would force a newly independent Scotland to hand over some national sovereignty.
Ms Lamont claimed: “That would mean an independent Scotland would have to share mortgage rates, tax rates and a banking system, and have our spending, borrowing and welfare decided by a foreign country we had just left.”
Mr Carney had said: “It’s over, it’s over” as he left a press conference, the Labour leader claimed.
Mr Salmond hit out at the Labour leader’s “scaremongering” and listed a number of powers he said Scotland would gain under independence, including excise duty, air passenger duty, value added tax, capital gains tax, oil and gas taxation, National Insurance, income tax, corporation tax, competition law, consumer protection, industry regulation, employment legislation and the minimum wage, energy market regulation and environmental regulations.
Ms Lamont, branded that a “ludicrous defence by a man who used to cry ‘freedom’ and now gives us a list of wee things which we could do”.
Mr Salmond said the economic powers independence would give Scotland were “quite substantial things, not wee things”.
Meanwhile, Ms Davidson came under pressure to distance herself from remarks made by Tory peer Lord Lang, who questioned whether the proposed break-up of the Union would dishonour the sacrifices made by soldiers.
For a full, in-depth round-up from the chamber at Holyrood see Friday’s Courier or try our digital edition.