ALEX Salmond's proposal for an independent Scotland to share the pound with the rest of the UK damaged the Yes campaign's chances of victory, one of its leading figures has claimed.

Dennis Canavan, the chairman of Yes Scotland, the official pro-independence campaign, said other currency options should have been promoted in the run-up to September's poll.

The former Labour MP and Independent MSP also claimed the Yes campaign failed to win more support because it was "too nice" and should have been more forceful challenging the economic arguments of its opponents.

Mr Canavan was responding to comments by Gordon Wilson, a former SNP leader, who blamed defeat on the party's failure to build a sense of Scottish national identity.

In his first major interview since the defeat, Mr Canavan strongly rejected the claim, saying: "Gordon's a Nationalist, he's been a Nationalist for a long, long time.

"I'm not a Nationalist and there are many people involved in the Yes campaign who are not Nationalists.

"We see independence not as an end in itself, not simply as a form of national expression."

However, he backed claims made by Mr Wilson in a new book, Scotland: The Battle For Independence, that the Yes campaign struggled in the debate over Scotland's economic prospects.

Mr Canavan, who had argued an independent Scotland should have its own currency, said the Yes campaign was damaged by Mr Salmond's key proposal to share sterling with the rest of the UK.

The idea was rejected by the UK Government as risky and unworkable, although Mr Salmond insisted the claims were a "bluff".

Mr Canavan said the Yes Scotland board, which included another supporter of a separate currency, Green Party leader Patrick Harvie, was persuaded to follow SNP Government policy.

He said: "It became clear later the Scottish Government was going to go for a sterling currency union and obviously the Scottish Government was going to be the main player, leading negotiations in the event of a Yes vote.

"The Yes Scotland campaign therefore agreed that should be the starting point, whatever their individual views were.

"But I think the other options that were available, including the option of an independent currency, should have been better and more clearly spelled out at an earlier stage of the campaign.

"I think if that had been made clear it would have been better."

In his book Mr Wilson said he wrote to Mr Canavan during the campaign urging a change of direction and describing him as a "punchbag".

"I read that in The Herald and I have no recollection of receiving that letter from Gordon," said Mr Canavan. "I would not use the term punchbag but I certainly felt we were not being as proactive as we should have been.

"I think in retrospect we were too nice. I think 'Project Fear', which the other lot were coming out with, we should have been counteracting much more forcefully."

He added: "Despite the result, I still see a future for Scotland."