NICOLA Sturgeon has responded to claims that RBS moving its headquarters to London if Scotland became independent would affect jobs.

The banking giant, which is part of the NatWest Group, said yesterday that it would move its head office from Edinburgh if Scotland votes to leave the UK.

NatWest Group chief executive Alison Rose said that while they are "neutral on the issue of Scottish independence" RBS's balance sheet would be "too big for an independent Scottish economy”.

This prompted claims that Scottish independence would lead to job losses.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sturgeon refuted claims that the move would impact jobs in Scotland and highlighted that this threat has been made before with just registered offices changing location, not jobs.

The SNP leader said: "We heard this in the 2014 referendum. I am not complacent about any company based in Scotland who has concerns about the future. But to put this in some firm context, NatWest is talking about its registered office, not its operations, not about jobs. But you know, we continue to engage positively with all businesses across Scotland both about the situation we face now and the possibility of independence in the future."

Sturgeon reiterated that the SNP are not proposing holding a referendum until after the country is out of the coronavirus crisis saying that her focus if re-elected next week will be on Covid recovery.

READ MORE: Don't be fooled by big banks' threats to move because of independence

She was pushed on whether a bank of the size of RBS collapsed that Scotland would not be big enough financially to rescue it.

The First Minister said she does not "necessarily accept all of that case" but that the Scottish Government does need to engage "constructively and responsibly" with businesses of all sizes.

She added that Scotland is "perfectly capable" of becoming an independent country with a "strong and vibrant business base" amongst businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Setting out the SNP plans on currency and finance in an independent Scotland, Sturgeon said: "In the first days of independence, the first period of independence, we’d continue to use Sterling, we’d move to our own currency with our own central bank and we’d build that infrastructure.

"But we had this debate in the final stages of the referendum campaign in 2014 and banks at the time talked about registered offices, not operations, not jobs.

"But at the heart of this debate is, for those who are against independence, is this ridiculous notion that somehow uniquely amongst countries of our size in the world Scotland is incapable of being independent. I don’t accept that. Scotland would be a thriving, prosperous independent country."