THE body representing Scotland's accountants has claimed the SNP's independence White Paper has raised fresh questions in the debate on the country's future.
Atholl Duncan, executive director of the Institute of Chartered Accounts in Scotland (ICAS), described the blueprint as a "political manifesto" rather than a "business plan".
He told a conference on the economics of independence in Edinburgh: "Accountants want to see the evidence. They want to see the numbers; it's in their DNA.
"So as a political document, the White Paper may be deemed by some to be excellent. That's for others to judge. But it's not a business plan, it's a political manifesto."
He questioned whether the Scottish Government's plan to set a timetable for cutting corporation tax by 3p would create 27,000 jobs, as promised in the White Paper published last week.
He added: "Our conclusion is that the White Paper gives us more detail but perhaps, as you'd expect from a document of this size, it raises many, many new questions."
His comments were dismissed by John Swinney, who also addressed the conference.
The Finance Secretary highlighted measures to boost the economy outlined in the White Paper, including an increase in childcare provision and a 50% cut in air passenger duty.
Launching a pamphlet based on economic sections of the blueprint, titled A Business Plan for Scotland, he said: "An independent Scotland will have the opportunity to pursue policies designed to grow the economy in a more supportive, competitive and dynamic business environment.
"Our business plan for Scotland includes plans to transform childcare provision will enable more people, particularly women, to participate in the workforce. Childcare is an investment in our economic prosperity."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article