SNP leader Alex Salmond has admitted he has never been entirely sure what he means when he says ‘independence’.

Scotland’s first minister revealed he has always thought of independence as a ‘play within a play… within a dream’.

He said: “Well, it’s a concept, it’s an idea, it’s a thing.

“In my mind I see it as a tree in the shape of Scotland. Does that make sense?”

Salmond said the idea of independence involving things like a currency and a central bank, was ‘very left brain’, adding: “How would you even do that?”

He said: “I think once independence is here I’ll have a much better idea of what it is.

“Any other questions?”