THE Scottish Government has confirmed it has no plans to build a “readiness thermometer”.
Ash Regan floated the idea during the SNP leadership campaign earlier this year – but the independence minister has now confirmed the Government will not pursue the concept.
In response to a question from Labour MSP Monica Lennon, Jamie Hepburn said: “The Scottish Government has no plans to build or install a Scottish independence readiness thermometer at any location.”
Regan had proposed the idea during a hustings event and said it would be a physical representation of the Government’s preparedness for independence, with a dial which would move when ministers had reached milestones like making plans for a new currency.
She said: “You can have an actual installation which is a readiness thermometer. We could put it up in Glasgow or in Edinburgh, and it can be outside and it has a dial on it that moves.
"So when we’ve made all the plans for the currency for instance, or we’ve set up how we’re going to do something to do with defence, or whatever it is, that dial will move and it will inch forward.
"And the media can look at it, everyone can look at it, and it builds that confidence with the public so that when we get up to the 100 per cent, everybody in Scotland knows we’ve solved all these problems.”
