Scotland has rebutted claims from the UK that a vote for independence will be punitively expensive, stressing the economy’s strength and demanding its fair share of assets in the event of a break-up of the union.

Britain's Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy held talks with Rangers’ bankers Lloyds today as the financial giant insisted they were not running the club.

A JUNIOR minister resigned from Gordon Brown’s government yesterday in the highest-profile revolt against the prime minister’s leadership so far. David Cairns was a minister in the Scotland Office.

The first minister to quit the British government in protest at Gordon Brown’s leadership denied tonight he was part of a plot to destabilise the prime minister.