The First Minister insisted a separate Scotland would be welcomed into the European Union “relatively” quickly while being able to use the currency of a non-EU state, the pound. However, she failed to provide any detail on how Scotland would cut its huge deficit to the three per cent required by the EU, while raising the tens of billions of pounds of currency reserves it would require. Ms Sturgeon also struggled to defend her government’s health record amid a slew of missed waiting times targets and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital scandal.