Salmond calls for equality

The Scottish Government's detailed proposals for independence will lead to a "positive relationship of equals" between Scotland and England, Alex Salmond claimed yesterday.

The Scottish First Minister said: "We will share a monarch, a currency and, under our proposals, a social union, but we won't have diktats from Westminster for Scotland and we won't have Scottish MPs poking their nose into English business in the House of Commons."

He said politicians were "scaremongering" when they highlighted difficulties an independent Scotland might face.