A NOBEL Prize-winning economist has said Scotland going “its own way” could “resolve a lot of the uncertainties” of Brexit.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University in New York, a former senior vice-president and chief economist of the World Bank, said the “mismanagement” of Brexit by the UK Government had left businesses in a difficult position.

Stiglitz, who sits on the First Minister’s council of economic advisers, told the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme: “Scotland ought to go its own way and if it could get into the EU – and I think it could, but that’s a political issue itself – it would resolve a lot of the uncertainties that are being created by the mismanagement of Brexit.

“These uncertainties are going to be bad for the UK and going to be bad for Scotland because businesses are going to say ‘by locating in the UK or locating in Scotland we don’t know what the future is, we don’t know what the implicit tariffs associated with non-tariff barriers are going to be’.

“And that’s going to be bad for Scotland and for the rest of the UK.”

The economist added that “the arguments for independence are stronger” as a result of these uncertainties.

However, the professor was not so enthusiastic about the idea of a citizen’s income scheme. The Scottish Government is funding a scoping exercise to look at the possibility of a universal basic income.

Stiglitz told the show: “I do worry about two things – one that there are fiscal constraints and should the scarce money be used to give everyone a basic amount or should it be targeted at those who have particularly strong needs? I think there needs to be some targeting.

“Secondly, over the long run, our responsibility as a society is to make sure that everybody who wants a job can get one and the underlying problems of lack of employment and lack of adequate pay – anybody who works full time ought to have a liveable income – those are the issues in the long run that we need to address.”

Earlier this week, Nicola Sturgeon said a citizen’s income scheme might not be “feasible” but it was one worth exploring. She said: “Despite the fact that this has some critics, we are going to work with interested local authorities to fund research into the feasibility of a citizen’s basic income scheme.

“I should stress our work on this is at a very early stage. It might turn out not to be the answer, it might turn out not to be feasible.”

Stiglitz also said Scotland should be given some control over immigration after Brexit to boost the economy.

He told the programme: “Obviously it fits into a complicated issue of devolution and what powers are given to Scotland, but it’s very clear that, to take one example, Scotland’s approach to education is very different from England’s.

“Scotland has been trying to ensure that everybody has access to education by keeping fees low and being very open to the rest of the world, so given that there are these fundamental differences in values and in economic needs it seems to me that it is certainly an appropriate issue to be on the table that Scotland should have the powers to go its own way in migration policy.”

Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth and the Scottish Trade Union Congress have joined forces to call on the Government to use the new Scottish Investment Bank to invest heavily in a low-carbon economy.

The First Minister announced a consultation on the founding principles of the bank last week, asking people in Scotland to set its priorities.

Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said the development of the bank should be closely aligned with plans for a state-owned energy company in Scotland and the establishment of the government’s new Just Transition Commission.

“If the bank develops the right remit, it could create thousands of green jobs by transforming our transport, heating, housing and electricity,” he said.

STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said it was imperative “every investment made by the bank honours the principles of fair work”.