SCOTTISH Greens have demanded continued spending on independence plans as the price for backing the SNP’s Budget, while thousands face the choice between heating and eating.

Green MSP Ross Greer made the demand after Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton proposed that the £3.44 million spent by the Scottish government on promoting independence be axed.

The cash had been used to enable senior civil servants under the direction of ministers to produce a series of more than a dozen papers speculating on the behaviour and policy choices of a future independent government, ranging from attitudes to the EU and foreign policy to currency.