ALEX Salmond has been presented with 50 "fundamental questions" from Lord Foulkes which, the former Scotland Office Minister insists, the White Paper must answer to make it credible.
The Labour peer, in a letter to the First Minister, says the prospectus for independence must set out "as clearly, accurately and truthfully as possible the challenges that lay in wait for an independent Scotland" and that the Scottish public deserve nothing less.
Lord Foulkes said he feared the White Paper would be full of holes as the Scottish Government had not had any discussions on key points with several Whitehall departments.
"It seems to me this won't be a White Paper in the traditional sense but an SNP manifesto. They will have to negotiate practically everything," said the ex-minister. Lord Foulkes's questions include:
l Does the First Minister accept an independent Scotland would face a 'tougher long-run fiscal challenge than the UK as a whole' as reported by the IFS?
l Can the FM categorically deny he will raise the basic rate of income tax or the standard rate of VAT should Scotland become independent?
l Does the FM accept that any currency union with Britain would significantly or notably constrain the economic policies an SNP-led independent Scotland would be able to pursue?
l Does the FM accept, given he has agreed to allocate £2.5bn to fund an independent Scotland's defence and security, that he has in effect promised to spend less on defence and security per person in Scotland than is currently spent by the UK Government?
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