SNP's ​fantasy independence paper- John McLellan

​So, Evening News readers were treated to two columns by government ministers on the same day on the subject, about how wonderful an independent Scotland would be for immigrants.

It comes with the usual stuff about UK hostility to incomers, despite latest figures showing migration has risen sharply since the end of the pandemic, and 1.2m arrivals in the year to June 2022 is by some way the largest for 50 years. Emigration was high at 557,000, but net migration of 606,000 is also a record.

In Scotland, net arrival from overseas in 2021 was about 19,000 people and the 41,000 newcomers from abroad therefore represents only around three per cent of the total coming to the UK. Maybe high income tax has something to do with it.

The new paper says immigrants will be enticed by access to social security, which might boost numbers but sounds like economic suicide when read in conjunction with this week’s report from Holyrood’s finance committee which warns of the dire state of the Scottish budget.

The Scottish Government is set to overspend by £1.5bn a year for the next 50 years, and with a deficit in the last year of £19bn, currently covered by the UK Government, an independent Scotland would be bust from day one. Borrow with no credit history to attract people to live off the dole?

Just as well it’s not going to happen.