Will Scottish independence really be 'Brexit times ten'?

Scottish civil servants are to start work on a ‘detailed prospectus’ for independence so the Scottish government can hold another referendum ‘when the Covid crisis has passed’, Nicola Sturgeon announced earlier this month.

The irony of this – coming just days before the Office for National Statistics reported that the percentage of Scots testing positive in a single week for Covid-19 equated to around one in 45 people – was lost on the First Minister. These things happen when you’re busy fighting to free your people from the tyranny of liberal democracy and free society in one of the richest places on earth.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney subsequently went further when he promised a ‘financial prospectus’ on separation that will be ‘open and comprehensive and transparent’. Quite the challenge then for Scotland’s civil servants. Can they produce an honest prospectus on the realities of independence?

It is inconceivable that this sort of momentous change, unprecedented for an advanced economy, can happen without inflicting serious damage on Scotland

Whatever they come up with, it had better be an improvement on 2013’s Scotland’s