New Scots bodies 'could cost £1.5bn'

The cost of setting up all the bodies needed in an independent Scotland could be £1.5bn, the UK Treasury has claimed.

It based the figure on research into the costs of setting up an independent state in Quebec, which have been estimated at 1% of GDP.

The Treasury also said that the costs could be nearly twice as much, if based on London School of Economics research.

A spokesman for Finance Minister John Swinney said it was "deeply flawed" analysis.

The Treasury claimed Scottish ministers wanted to create 180 public bodies, which led the LSE to a figure of £2.7bn.

Its research estimated the cost of setting up each new department at £15m.

The Treasury said that, while it had used a more conservative figure in its own analysis, the £2.7bn costing was "reasonable".

It called on the Scottish government to publish its own estimates for how much it would cost to set up the organisations needed to run a country.

Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said: "The Scottish government is trying to leave the UK but it won't tell anyone how much the set-up surcharge is for an independent Scotland."

Pensions and passports

The Scottish government said it had never suggested that 180 public bodies would be needed.

Ministers also argued that start-up costs would be lower because they were planning to run a slimmed-down system.

A spokesman for Scotland's Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, more prosperous per head than the UK, France and Japan - but we need the powers of independence to ensure that wealth properly benefits everyone in our society.

"This is deeply flawed analysis, underlined by the ludicrous and palpably false claim that an independent Scotland would need 180 government departments - something we have never claimed.

"Much of the infrastructure needed for an independent country already exists, and Scottish taxpayers already pay their fair share for all devolved and reserved services - while Scotland also stands to inherit a fair share of joint assets, valued at around $1.3 trillion."

If Scotland votes for independence, a number of current UK-wide bodies would need to be created in Scotland, including Scottish tax, pensions, passports, benefits, transport and regulatory bodies.

New Scots bodies 'could cost £1.5bn'

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