Nicola Sturgeon: Independent Scotland will not need 'hard border' with UK

Nicola Sturgeon has declared herself an "internationalist"and insisted a "hard border" with the UK after Scottish independence is not what she wants.

The SNP leader also insisted Jeremy Corbyn will agree to SNP demands for a transfer of power to allow a second referendum on independence to be staged next year as the price of becoming Prime Minister.

With less than a week until the election, the First Minister insisted that Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries and in the world and independence would see it capitalise on this.

"If you look at most countries of a similar size to Scotland across Europe most of them are more prosperous and wealthier than Scotland," the First Minister told the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 today.

With less than a week until the election, the First Minister insisted that Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries and in the world and independence would see itcapitalise on this. Picture PA

"And most of them don't have the natural resources that we have - so that sense that having the greater powers over our economy, those levers of economic growth are actually good for a country and allow you to, not having no challenges or tough times no country can do that, but actually to allow you chart a better course."

'We're a wealthy country'

With less than a week until the election, the First Minister insisted that Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries and in the world and independence would see itcapitalise on this. Picture: PA

She added: "Scotland's one of the richest countries in the world.

"Scotland faces challenges right now, and I'm not one of these independence supporters who thinks independence is a magic wand that takes away every problem or challenge.

"But we're a wealthy country."

The SNP leader has previously admitted she has problems with her party's name over potential associations with other nationalist movements around the world and far-right connotations.

"I'm what would be described as a nationalist - I've got some issues with that word because it covers a very big spectrum," she said.

"But I'm at heart an internationalist. I just want Scotland to play it's part in the world on the basis of equality."

Independent Scotland

The prospect of an independent Scotland rejoining the EU after the rest of the UK has left and adopted a different approach on immigration and customs would make a "hard border" more likely.

But Ms Sturgeon insisted: "I don't want borders between Scotland and the rest of the UK. There is nothing in my proposition that necessitates that.

"Brexit is the issue there. We don't want the final relationship between the UK and EU is. Once we know that I can work out what the implications are if there are implications in that respect and we can work out how we mitigate and deal with those."

Most polls point to a Tory majority in the forthcoming election, but a hung Parliament could see SNP MPs in Scotland hand Jeremy Corbyn the keys to Downing Street.

The price would be transfer of power to allow a second referendum on independence. Mr Corbyn has said this won't happen in the early years of a Labour Government, but Ms Sturgeon believes the Labour leader will compromise on this.

"I've said I want that to happen next year, the legislation to enable that is going through the Scottish Parliament right now," he said.

"But for me it's about principle and the principle that whether or not there is another independence referendum and what the timescale of that should be is for the Scottish Government elected by the Scottish people to determine, not for Westminster politicians or whoever is the incumbent in Downing Street to dictate, so it's an issue or principle that we would want Jeremy Corbyn to accept that whatever timescale the Scottish Parliament decides should be the one that happens.

She added: "Listening to Jeremy Corbyn, much as you can never work out what he means on things, he seems to concede that principle, but I guess perhaps to keep his Scottish Labour party colleagues happy or less unhappy, he's made this issue of timing.

"I think when it gets to it, if Jeremy Corbyn, of whom I'm not a great fan, if he is in a position to form a Government because he has done sufficiently well in England, I don't think he's going to turn his back on the chance to form a Labour Government and do all things he says he wants to do over some dispute about the timing of an independence referendum."

Indyref2 challenge

Mr Johnson has vowed to reject any request for a Section 30 after an independence referendum. Although Ms Sturgeon has hinted at a legal challenge, she told grassroots supporters that any process must be "legitimate and legal."

"I'm in the business of trying to win Scottish independence, not just having a referendum to make a point or have a gesture, so you have to have a process, no matter how difficult this seems sometimes, you have to have a process that is legal, that is constitutional, that is capable of having the result accepted not just within in the UK, but within the European Union.

"The point has never been tested in court about the extent and the limit of the Scottish Parliament power versus the reserved Westminster power. I don't think it should ever have to come to that because in 2014 two Governments - the Scottish Government, the UK Government with diametrically opposed views on the issue of independence and legitimately so - nevertheless came together and said `OK here's the process by which we decide this.

"That's what should happen in the future as well."

She added: "The process has to be legitimate, legal and capable of being accepted and I think for those who want to see Scotland becoming independent that at times can feel like a hard truth, but it is a truth nonetheless."