SCOTS could end up using the Chinese yuan or the US dollar in the event of independence, an SNP MSP has suggested.

Christina McKelvie made the claim in a radio interview with Kirsty Wark.

Asked if the SNP would choose any internationally traded currency including the dollar, sterling, the euro or the yuan, Ms McKelvie said: "Yes, well, absolutely we could choose that and that is the whole point about self-determination because it will be our choice and the issue around about transferable currencies is one that will be debated and investigated."

Labour finance spokesman Michael McMahon said: "People would have been choking on their porridge at breakfast time listening to Christina McKelvie spout this nonsense. It is utterly bonkers.

"People's savings, mortgages and pensions all depend on what currency we use. The SNP needs to stop treating serious issues like this as if it is a game."

Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: "At best this is economic illiteracy, but at its worst this is insulting to the Scottish electorate who are looking for hard facts on what a separate Scotland would look like."

An SNP spokesman said the "cast-iron position" was Scotland would use the pound.