Row erupts over Scottish independence start-up costs

A row has broken out over the cost of setting up all of the public bodies needed in an independent Scotland.

It came after the UK Treasury published analysis which put the cost at £1.5bn, the BBC reports. It based the figure on research into the costs of setting up an independent state in Quebec, which were estimated at 1% of GDP. But Scotland's finance secretary accused the Treasury of releasing "false information". He has written to the senior civil servant at the UK government department calling for an investigation into the matter. In its analysis, the Treasury said the costs could be nearly twice as much as its own £1.5bn estimate, if based on London School of Economics research. ...