NEWLY installed SNP First Minister John Swinney has claimed Scotland could be independent in five years.

Mr Swinney, who today deleted the post of minister for independence, made the assertion in an interview with Sky News in his official residence at Edinburgh’s Bute House. 

Despite there being no legal avenue open to enable holding another referendum on the matter in the near future, he assured supporters: “I think independence can be delivered in that timescale because the arguments for it are compelling.