NICK Clegg has sought to dismiss SNP claims the Coalition is being too negative in its campaign against Scottish independence, stating it is just being honest about what is at stake.
The declaration came as Nicola Sturgeon demanded the withdrawal of the UK Government's latest analysis paper on independence, which focuses on business and trade, because of "seriously misleading" claims.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who will today launch the paper in Glasgow, says a decision by Scotland to leave the UK would create barriers that would hamper trade with the rest of the UK.
He will say that independence would reduce Scotland's access to the UK single market, create extra administrative burdens for firms doing cross-border business and cause additional tax and pension complications.
He will claim: "Breaking up Scotland's most lucrative market would destabilise enterprise and potentially put growth and jobs at risk."
His assertions are supported by John Cridland, CBI Director-General, who said Scottish independence risks hampering the effectiveness of the UK's powerful single market, which benefits firms on both sides of the border.
He added: "The business and growth advantages are clear; the countries which make up the UK are better together." However, Ms Sturgeon wrote to the Business Secretary calling on him to withdraw the analysis paper due to its serious flaws.
The Deputy First Minister said: "Westminster's inaccurate claim, promoted by UK Government ministers over the weekend, that mobile phone charges would increase with independence has been exposed as seriously misleading as a result of the EU Commission's agreement to remove all data-roaming charges as early as next year."
She added: "This paper must be withdrawn".
Ms Sturgeon called on Mr Cable and his colleagues in Whitehall to commit to higher standards in the material being published.
She said: "Any objective analysis must acknowledge that roaming charges will have been abolished and the only risk of them being reintroduced is if the UK decides to leave the EU."
She said the Coalition had already been caught claiming Scotland benefited from the UK's triple A rating it no longer had and that firms would not invest in Scotland when the evidence showed the country had secured more inward investment projects than anywhere outside London.
She said: "If publication goes ahead there is a danger the UK Government will be seen as just another wing of the No campaign's Project Fear."
However, when asked if the Coalition was being unremittingly negative, Mr Clegg said: "We're being unremittingly open with people about what is at stake.
"If you listen to Alex Salmond you'd be led to believe this is a cost-free, risk-free option, yanking Scotland out of the family of nations that is the United Kingdom.
"We're perfectly entitled to say there are some major question-marks about what would happen to its currency ... all the military bases ... and what it would mean for all our debts and liabilities of the banking system which Scotland would have to shoulder.
"In this modern, globalised, footloose, fancy-free world, you are stronger when you work together and weaker when you are apart; it's a positive argument, which many people in Scotland would support."
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