IT would be "impossible" to make a currency union work between an independent Scotland and the UK, Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has insisted.

The Highland MP told the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee: "The pound only works alongside all the other structures of the United Kingdom and doesn't work if we leave the United Kingdom; it really is as simple as that...It's time for the Nationalists to come up with an alternative because the currency union is off the table."

Pressed by Labour's Ian Davidson, the committee chairman, that the SNP Government had labelled the Coalition's refusal on a currency union as a bluff, Mr Alexander said: "This is the opposite of a bluff; this is putting our cards on the table."

Mr Davidson asked if the Coalition's currency union stance had been handled badly with a "Tory toff" in the form of Chancellor George Osborne coming to Scotland and "telling us what we could and could not do".

Mr Alexander did not accept that, explaining how a year ago the Coalition had said a currency union was highly unlikely. "Given the facts are so crystal clear, it is important the Government states openly and straightforwardly what the position is. It's important in that context the Chancellor of the Exchequer makes his views known."

The Scottish Government believes that a currency union is the right economic policy not just for an independent Scotland but also for the UK. It points to remarks of an unnamed UK Government minister that "of course, there would be a currency union".