INDEPENDENCE could provide a boost to Scotland’s finances worth £4100 per person, according to a game-changing declaration made within the SNP’s new economic prospectus.

The long-awaited Sustainable Growth Commission report is set to give a huge boost to the economic argument for leaving the UK, with a series of recommendations on how Scotland could become a prosperous independent nation.

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The National understands that the report takes as a working assumption the first year of independence is 2021-22. The report points out the timescale is “illustrative” and not “a target date”, but it may raise the prospect that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is leaving open plans to hold a second referendum within the next two years.

A briefing ahead of the publication tomorrow of the 354-page document, which is entitled Scotland: The New Case for Optimism, said an independent Scotland could close a growth gap it has with other nations by emulating the world’s 12 best performing small economies.

It states: “The report concludes that achieving this would be worth additional economic output in Scotland equivalent to an extra £4100 per person in Scotland.”

In comparison, studies by both the Scottish and UK governments have also estimated a hard Brexit would lead to Scotland’s losing £13 billion a year by 2030, the equivalent of £2300 for each Scot.

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Immigration and population growth lie at the heart of the new prospectus. The document is expected to call for an independent Scotland to aim to be “regarded as the most talent-friendly country in the world”, attracting those in a Brexit-blighted UK as well as from the rest of the world.

In his introduction, the commission’s chair Andrew Wilson says: “The process of producing this report has made me believe more than ever that independence is the best option for Scotland’s future.”

He is expected to stress that “independence must never be seen as a magic wand or quick and easy step to success. Indeed, there is no pot of gold, black or otherwise, at the foot of the independence rainbow.

“But there is a toolbox and using it will mean taking responsibility for choices that seek to create a stronger economy, sustainable public finances and a fairer society. Independence is a means to those ends, I believe a necessary but not sufficient step to success.”

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The report is expected to assume North Sea revenues at zero for its purposes and suggests all future revenues would be set aside in a new sovereign wealth fund used for the common good. Norway established such a “rainy day” fund in 1990 which is currently worth $1 trillion – the biggest state fund in the world.

The commission studied 12 small advanced economies across the globe, looking at Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland – and in particular it focused on lessons to be learned from Denmark, Finland and New Zealand.

Its analysis claims small economies have consistently outperformed larger ones by about 0.7% a year over the last 25 years.

As a result, it claims the countries studied remained economically competitive at the same time as larger economies – including that of the UK – have “retreated substantially”.

Smaller economies tend to have lower unemployment than their larger counterparts, the report will state, with some also benefitting from lower levels of income inequality.

In the briefing released yesterday, Wilson said: “As a first step there must be an acceptance that small nations can be successful and that Scotland can be one of those countries. Our work shows that small countries can be amongst the most economically successful countries in the world, with higher standards of living and lower levels of inequality than many larger economies.

“There is nothing intrinsic in any of the best performing economies that Scotland does not have. To secure an improvement in our performance will take purposeful strategic effort for over a generation.

“We require world-class policy, world-class institutions and cross partisan effort if we are to achieve our ambition to create a much more successful economy and cohesive and fair society.

“We have produced a design to demonstrate how Scotland can emulate the best performing economies and societies in the world sustainably.”

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: “The SNP can pluck out any number of fanciful examples, but it won’t change the fact Scotland is far more prosperous and secure as part of the UK.”