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The Scottish government has pledged to make it easier and cheaper for migrants to obtain citizenship if Scotland gains independence with a new policy that it said would help reverse population decline and address a shortage of workers in the country.
Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National party, said a future immigration policy would seek to be “welcoming and inclusive” and would enable Scotland to deal with labour shortages that his government said are partly owing to Brexit.
“Powers over migration, asylum and indeed citizenship are really important in order to attract people to come to your country,” Yousaf said.
The announcement on Thursday was the latest in a series of policy papers making the case for independence.
They are part of an attempt by the first minister to shift attention to his agenda, which has been overshadowed a financing and funding scandal in his party that led to the arrest of his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon.
The pro-independence SNP has sought to portray itself as a progressive alternative to the main Westminster parties on immigration, which is a key battlefield in British politics
Yousaf said British citizens living in Scotland would be entitled to Scottish citizenship as soon as the country wins its independence, along with expats who were born there.
He added that Scotland would take “fair and proportionate” approach to allow those who do not qualify automatically to apply for citizenship and said a Scottish government would ensure that costs were kept as low as possible, and would only cover administrative costs.
According to the paper, this could lead to a citizenship application in Scotland costing as much as £800 less than in the UK, which currently charges £1,330.
“The Scottish government’s priority for citizenship and migration policy is to encourage people to live and work permanently in Scotland, and we would want to remove disincentives to people choosing to settle here and make a commitment to our communities and economy,” it said.
The paper added that Scotland would seek to retain membership of the Common Travel Area, the longstanding arrangement that allows open borders between the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.
Asked if he would remain British, Yousaf said he had not given it much thought but would probably choose to have only a Scottish passport.
The SNP’s opponents have criticised the Scottish government for spending public money on the policy papers when there is little prospect of a second independence referendum.
Westminster has refused to give Holyrood the legal authority to hold another plebiscite, after Scots voted for the union by 55-45 per cent in 2014.
“This was simply another example of the nationalists wasting yet more taxpayers’ money on their own selfish obsession,” said Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, a pro-UK lobby.
Donald Cameron, shadow constitution secretary for the Scottish Conservatives, said Scots would be “appalled” at the SNP’s priorities.
