Is that it?

The SNP White paper on Independence – my first reaction – seriously, is that it?

After months of talking up the Independence White paper as a “credible, detailed document that answers all the questions”, it still leaves huge holes and suffers from a credibility deficit. But I’ll give the SNP this, it’s a thick document but that’s because it’s full of so many false promises. The absence of detailed costings means that this isn’t a blueprint; it’s a wish-list.

What we heard and saw from Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon was eight minutes of opening statements full of the same, old, tired soundbites with very little new to say. And in the devastating  Q&A that followed, the same bluster and assertion that the Scottish people have seen right through before.

You would have thought that at 649 pages and 170,000 words the SNP might just have found room for some clarity for Scots on the big questions hanging over their case for Scottish independence; but actually this document highlights more strongly the huge gaps that exist and leaves more questions than it answers (and there are 650 of them!).

This is an entire document that is based on the assertion that Scotland will keep the pound as part of a newly created Sterling-zone with the UK treasury remaining as the lender of last resort. The fact there is no Plan B on the currency brings the entire document’s credibility into question.

On the media this morning, Nicola Sturegon repeated the threat that Scotland would default on its debt if a Sterling-zone and the use of the pound could not be agreed. That would have significant implications for Scotland’s credit rating and could have serious consequences on people’s savings and mortgages.

To highlight the extent of their currency disarray, Salmond can’t get four members of the Yes Scotland board to agree his currency plan, what chance of persuading the four nations of the United Kingdom?

The White Paper promises huge tax cuts – a 3% cut in corporation tax and the scrapping of Air Passenger Duty – while promising huge increases in public spending. It promises Scotland we would have Scandinavian public services, but the tax system of Monaco. That’s not honest and not credible.

Now the SNP will try and claim that independence will be whatever you want it to be as long as you vote for it. The truth is that when Scots go to the polls next year they will be voting on the contents of the White Paper. The crucial point though is they can’t claim that this is a mandate document because it is a negotiation position. Scotland can’t dictate the terms to the rest of the UK, it is right that we would negotiate for what we believe is in our best interest, but rUK will obviously argue for what they believe is in their best interest.

And it’s not just on currency where answers are missing.

The White Paper glosses over the fact that there would need to be negotiations on EU membership, the EU rebate and Schengen opt out with every other European country. But none of that appears to matter in Alex Salmond’s quest for independence. For him, it really is a case of ‘why let the facts get in the way of a good story’.

The BBC’s Nick Robinson was clear that rather than using language like ‘will be’ and ‘will have’ should the SNP not be using ‘could’, ‘might’, ‘maybe’ and ‘fingers crossed’.

And as for the SNP’s big pledge on childcare, it might come as a surprise to them that they already have the powers to increase childcare now. Nicola Sturgeon admitted as muc, but disgracefully said that the SNP would take no action now because any increased revenues would flow to the Treasury.

It is now clear. The SNP are promising increased childcare, not to change a woman’s life but win a woman’s vote. So today Scottish Labour repeats the call made by our leader Johann Lamont earlier this year, we will work with the Scottish Government to deliver free childcare now. Why wait until the referendum and break up the United Kingdom? Deliver for families now with the powers that already exist.

What we have seen published today is not a blueprint for independence; it’s a wish- list. Today Alex Salmond has published a work of fiction, a fantasy that we can leave the UK but still keep all the benefits of being part of the UK.

The SNP promised time after time that the White Paper will “answer all the questions” about independence. It hasn’t.