AN independent Scotland would need to erect a "great wall of Gretna" at the Border if it joined the EU, a Tory immigration chief has claimed.
Home Office minister Kevin Foster denounced independence and attacked the SNP during a visit to Scotland.
He insisted that if the country joined the Schengen scheme, which permits free travel without passport checks between European nations, it would necessitate the construction of a hard border with England.
He challenged Nicola Sturgeon's party to "start being upfront about the impact of some of their policies".
Speaking to journalists during his visit to Linlithgow, West Lothian, and other parts of the country, Foster said: "If they wanted Scotland to join Schengen that does mean a hard border, it means building a great wall of Gretna."
Rather than "debating the philosophical future" of the country with another independence referendum, the Tory minister claimed the SNP should be "getting on with the day job" of dealing with coronavirus and the recovery from the pandemic.
READ MORE: Expert rubbishes Tory claim independence would lead to 'great wall of Gretna'
He was dismissive of Scottish Government calls for more powers over immigration to be devolved to Holyrood, saying: "We're very clear that we need to have a migration system that works for the whole of the United Kingdom.
"What I am not interested in doing is creating passport control at Berwick. The UK operates as a single market despite the SNP's thoughts on this.
"It's always interesting to hear the SNP talking about wanting to rejoin the EU if they achieve their goal of separation, but they are quiet about what that would mean in terms of rejoining the Common Fisheries Policy, potentially joining the euro, what it could mean around Schengen.
"We're coming out of an extraordinary period of a pandemic, the first to hit the UK of this nature for a century, our minds really should be focused on recovery, getting people back to work, and dealing with the many impacts we know there is going to be of the pandemic.
"That is what we should be doing, getting on with the day job, not sitting round debating the philosophical future."
READ MORE: EU expert Kirsty Hughes analyses what independence would mean for the Border
The First Minister was asked in April about the prospect of a hard border after independence.
She insisted “nobody in the SNP wants to see a border between Scotland and England”.
Sturgeon continued: “This is only being talked about because the UK Government has decided to leave the EU and rip Scotland out of the EU.
“I want Scotland to trade freely across the Uk and to trade freely within the world’s biggest single market, which is the European Single Market.
“It is the Tories that are about borders, it’s the SNP (that) are about Scotland being an independent country but then operating economically and socially on the basis of equality.”
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