South Scotland Labour MSP Colin Smyth has described the confirmation that the SNPs economic plans for independence would lead to “border checks” on goods between Scotland and England as “unsurprising and inevitably damaging”.

The confirmation that there would be physical checks at the border on the M74 and A1 and at rail freight terminals is contained in a Scottish Government economic paper on independence published today (Monday 17 October) which also reveals that under the plan Scotland would keep the pound until the “time is right” to move to a Scottish currency but fails to explain how the budget deficit would be plugged.

South Scotland Labour MSP Colin Smyth said, “At a time families are already facing economic chaos , the SNP want to hit people with even more turmoil.

“This paper fails to say how an independent Scotland would plug the huge public spending shortfall between the taxes we raise in Scotland and the current level of spending which the Scottish Government’s own figures reveals is £23.7 bn- a £2,184 per person devolution dividend. As independent economists have already said we would need tax rises and spending cuts.

“The confirmation of border checks between Scotland and England is unsurprising and inevitably damaging. The rest of the UK accounts for 60% of Scottish businesses market so any barriers would be bad news for Scottish businesses and jobs, especially in an area like South Scotland where cross border trade happens every single minute of the day.”

“The lack of a plan for a central bank and the use of another state’s currency with no say is a recipe for an economic disaster which will send a shiver down the spine of families already being hit by spiralling mortgages.

“It would be economic vandalism to drive Scotland into years of unprecedented economic failure and austerity just because of a constitutional obsession.

“The solution to the current Tory economic crisis is not to have SNP economic crisis – it is to deliver the change of Government across the UK that people are crying out for”.