ASH Regan tonight revealed images of her planned Scottish Pound notes – including one containing the image of a unicorn.
The outsider in the race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon had sparked ridicule earlier in the campaign for claiming a new currency would be issued just months after a UK split.
Last night she told members at the latest SNP hustings, in Edinburgh, that her colleagues in SNP faction the Scottish Currency Group had come up with “some mock-ups of a possible Scottish currency”.
She invited any member who “wants to have a look at them” to come and speak to her afterwards.
Images of the currency produced by the group, later sent on to The Scottish Sun, show a series of “specimen” banknotes from the “Scottish Reserve Bank”, with various maps of Scotland and native animals used as illustrations – as well as a two pound note with a unicorn in the background.
A fictional governor of the national bank, called Ewan MacDonald, is also written onto the notes.
Ms Regan said earlier this month that an independent Scotland could set up its own currency within months of leaving the UK.
Humza Yousaf later said the claim “lacks credibility”.
The SNP’s official policy is to move to a new currency, but the party has said this could take years.
And in the meantime, Scotland would use the UK pound – but without any control over the currency. This has led to fears it could cause major economic instability.
Last night, Ms Regan insisted the switch could be done in months – if not weeks – saying: “The reason I know we can do that is other countries have done that … the quickest one was one month and seven days, that one country did it. So it is amazing what can be done.”
The Scottish Tories said the unicorn banknotes showed that Ash Regan is “living in a world of pure fantasy with her latest ludicrous currency idea”.
Scottish Conservative chairman and MSP Craig Hoy said: “Each time you think the SNP leadership election can’t get any more surreal, up pops a candidate with a suggestion to prove us wrong.”
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