ALEX Salmond has pledged to abolish the so-called bedroom tax within a year if Scots vote for independence.
The First Minister insisted his plan to share the UK's existing welfare system would allow an independent Scottish Government to reverse cuts to housing benefit.
It would cost £60 million to restore the benefits but Scottish Government officials insisted it would incur no additional administrative costs as a result of deviating from UK welfare policy.
They claimed there was "no need" to discuss the plan with the Department for Work and Pensions before the independence referendum on September 18 next year.
Speaking during First Ministers Questions at Holyrood, Mr Salmond said independence would "free us" from the bedroom tax. He added: "Not only will we abolish it, we'll do it in the first year of independence."
The promise was dismissed as "nonsense on stilts" by Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.
The SNP has put the unpopular bedroom tax – a cut in housing benefit for people deemed to have more rooms than they need – at the heart of its independence campaign, claiming it could only be reserved if Scotland left the UK
Earlier this week ministers said they wanted to share the UK's welfare system, in the event of independence, for a transitional period up to 2018, two years after the SNP's planned independence day.
The move followed an expert report which warned of "serious risks" to pension and benefit payments if an independent Scotland sought to create a stand-alone welfare system immediately.
However, ministers insisted the plan would allow a degree of flexibility to alter welfare policy before a new system was set up.
In addition to scrapping the bedroom tax, ministers want to reverse benefit cuts which have mainly hit women in part-time jobs. The move would cost £60m to £80m.
Mr Salmond spoke out after he came under fire over his plans not only to retain the UK welfare system but a range of institutions including the pound, the Bank of England and the monarchy.
Ms Lamont said the plans were not credible and challenged Nationalist MSPs to set up an "SNP for independence" breakaway group.
On his pledge to axe the bedroom tax, she added: "Independent experts have said it is impossible to get rid of the bedroom tax on day one of independence if you are going to continue with the welfare position. It is nonsense on stilts."
A UK Government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government's position on welfare is increasingly unclear.
"Wanting to leave the UK but keep the UK welfare system while operating different policies makes no practical sense.
"No-one should be in any doubt a decision to leave the UK is exactly that – it would mean walking away from all the UK institutions which currently work for people in Scotland."
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