The Scottish Government has “no plans” to build a massive independence thermometer showing the country’s apparent “readiness” for leaving the UK.
Ministers confirmed they had snubbed a bizarre plan which was put forward during the recent SNP leadership contest by MSP Ash Regan.
Regan, who went head to to head with Humza Yousaf and former Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, left pundits open mouthed after she floated the idea during a hustings in Glenrothes.
She said: “There’s an idea that I wanted to put to you. It’s not my idea but the group that came up with it have said that we should be using it in the campaign. And it’s the idea of a ‘readiness thermometer’. I don’t know if anyone’s seen that idea yet.
"So, the idea is you can have an actual installation which is a readiness thermometer. We could put it up in Glasgow or in Edinburgh, and it can be outside and it has a dial on it that moves.
"So when we’ve made all the plans for the currency for instance, or we’ve set up how we’re going to do something to do with defence, or whatever it is, that dial will move and it will inch forward.
"And the media can look at it, everyone can look at it, and it builds that confidence with the public so that when we get up to the 100 per cent, everybody in Scotland knows we’ve solved all these problems.”
The plan was widely mocked and Regan appeared to backtrack later in the campaign.
Following a question by Labour MSP Monica Lennon, independence minister Jamie Hepburn said:
“The Scottish Government has no plans to build or install a Scottish independence readiness thermometer at any location.”
Regan has been contacted.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
