Alex Salmond's former policy chief launches blistering attack on the SNP's plan to keep the pound. Daily Mail

  Alex Bell said the Mr Salmond's currency plan is 'arguably not independence'

  He also claimed Trident nuclear weapons will remain in a separate Scotland 

  Weapons will be allowed to stay for a 'ticket into international community'

  Scotland will also have to implement deep spending cuts, Mr Bell said

Alex Salmond’s former policy chief has launched a blistering attack on the SNP’s currency plans as he lifts the lid on the confusion and deceit at the heart of the independence campaign.

In an explosive political diary, Alex Bell said the Nationalists’ currency proposal is ‘arguably not independence’ and has hinted at a power struggle at the top of the party.

The top adviser, who stood down from government last summer, also claims:

* Trident nuclear weapons will remain in a separate Scotland in return for a ‘priority ticket into the international community’ and a favourable deal with the rest of the UK.

* A Yes vote does not mean Scotland can avoid deep spending cuts and the state ‘cannot afford’ to keep paying pensions.

Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has championed a ‘re-design’ of the state, but others in the party favour a ‘mini-UK’ form of independence outlined in Mr Salmond’s White Paper manifesto.

Mr Bell was invited into government in 2010 and was in control of the process that led to the ‘Edinburgh Agreement’ – the historic deal signed by Mr Salmond and David Cameron that enabled a referendum to be staged.

But as work got underway on the SNP’s White Paper, the head of policy left his post because the document lacked a ‘big offer’.

In his new book, The People We Could Be, Mr Bell reveals: ‘SNP strategists think the mix of aspiration without perspiration allows room for everyone to join the Yes campaign.

‘As the referendum approaches, people are filling in the gaps to their own liking. In that sense, the Yes vote has escaped the control of either the

SNP, the Scottish Government or the official campaign.’

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