RBS to relocate to England if Scotland votes for independence

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has demanded a probe into the disclosure of Royal Bank of Scotland's potential move to England, accusing the British government of deliberate "scaremongering" before next week's independence referendum.

"A Treasury source told the BBC that it had discussed the plans with the Royal Bank of Scotland," Salmond said at a press conference in Edinburgh yesterday. "The Treasury official or ministers are not allowed to brief market-sensitive information." That was a matter of "extraordinary gravity", he added.

RBS's proposal to move to London from Edinburgh if voters backed independence was first reported by the BBC. RBS confirmed the decision yesterday morning, saying a "yes' vote would make it necessary to re-domicile its headquarters.

The bank, 81 per cent owned by the British government, said the decision was part of contingency planning before the vote which was responsible and prudent and was what its customers, staff and shareholders would expect it to do.

Salmond, a former RBS economist, called the Treasury's comment to the BBC a "spectacular blunder from the No campaign", which he alleged had been "caught red-handed" orchestrating a scaremongering operation.

Accusing the government of "intimidation and bullying", he said he planned to write to Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood demanding a probe into who at the Treasury was responsible for the disclosure.

The Scottish National Party leader also demanded the BBC cooperate.

"The people of Scotland have moved beyond this sort of intimidation and for that reason are moving towards the Yes campaign," Salmond said.

He insisted RBS had no plans to move jobs and operations out of Scotland, only its registered office.

Lloyds Banking Group, which is based in London but has its registered office in Edinburgh, said late on Wednesday that it had a contingency plan for establishing new legal entities in England in the event of a Yes vote. The company owns the 319-year-old Bank of Scotland.