Edinburgh - British Finance Minister George Osborne said on Thursday he could not support the possibility of an independent Scotland using the pound should Scots vote for secession in a referendum later this year.
Osborne said official advice from civil servants in the British Treasury was against recommendation of a currency union, Osborne said in a speech in the Scottish capital.
"Listening to that advice, looking at the analysis myself, it is clear to me, I could not as Chancellor recommend that we could share the pound with an independent Scotland," he said.
"The evidence shows it wouldn't work. It would cost jobs and cost money. It wouldn't provide economic security for Scotland or for the rest of the United Kingdom," Osborne said.