Scotland

Government should take steps to ensure a financially viable Scotland as there could be "capital flight" to the remaining UK if voters back independence, a leading investment bank has said.

The Scottish economy continued to grow in April but the pace of growth slipped to slowest level to date this year, according to the Bank of Scotland purchasing managers' index (PMI).

The latest Bank of Scotland PMI revealed that growth in both services and manufacturing sectors but the pace of growth in output in the month under review fell from the previous three months of this year.

Ann Gloag, one of Scotland's richest women, has turned down an American firm's formal bid for her closure-threatened Manston Airport in Kent.

Stagecoach co-founder Ms Gloag had acquired Manston Airport for ?1 million in 2013; but in March this year, she decided to close the airport because it was suffering a loss of ?10, 000 per day. The decision put more than 150 jobs at risk.

An independent Scotland would likely be rated at least two notches below the UK's rating, according to global credit ratings agency Moody's.

Scotland will become the UK's tourist hotspot by the year of 2017 as the number of foreign visitors to Scotland will increase faster than the national average, according to a fresh research by Barclays' Retail, Hospitality and Leisure teams.