Ahead of Nicola Sturgeon unveiling her new “route map” to Scottish Independence later today, new FoI requests from Scotland in Union have revealed the SNP has already massively ramped up its staffing resources to prepare for separation, even without the legal consent of Westminster. The number of civil servants working on the independence blueprint has jumped from 11 to 20, nearly doubling since the last reports in January, with the total estimated cost to the taxpayer now hitting £1.2 million a year. Not to mention the £20 million already earmarked for holding the referendum itself…

Scotland in Union director Alastair Cameron said:

“This revelation demonstrates a totally unacceptable waste of taxpayers’ money by the SNP. These are senior, highly-paid and expert civil servants who could be devoting their time to pressing matters such as reducing NHS waiting times or closing the attainment gap in our schools. Instead, they have been tasked by SNP ministers with working on a blueprint to divide the people of Scotland.”

It was only a month ago when the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned the Scottish Government could face a £3.5 billion hole in its finances by 2026 if it didn’t stop overspending. Yesterday Sturgeon told Scots the only way to avoid the global cost of living crisis is to go independent – by the looks of things at every measure IndyRef2’s already making things worse…