ANDREW Marr has insisted Scottish independence would be "rotten" for "ordinary working people" and claimed it would cause an "angry, rancorous" separation from the rest of the UK.

The former BBC broadcaster, who joined LBC last year, shared his thoughts on a fresh drive for an independent Scotland at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose. 

The Glaswegian said given Scotland would likely look to join the EU if independence was won, there would end up being a "strong border" with England.

He admitted he would vote for independence if he could be "convinced that an independent Scottish economy with a strong border between it and England would be strong enough to give a really good proper social democratic welfare state that people need here". 

But he said he was completely unconvinced independence was a good move at the moment and insisted it would only benefit "the people at the top".

READ MORE: Watch as Glaswegians are asked whether they support RMT rail strikes

He added that he did not believe the Yes campaign had a chance of winning a second vote, with the Scottish Government planning to hold one in October 2023 after publishing the first paper in a new independence prospectus. 

The 62-year-old said: "I would vote for independence if I could be convinced that an independent Scottish economy with a strong border between it and England - which there would have to be as Scotland joins the EU - would be strong enough to give a really good proper social democratic welfare state that people need here.

"I'm completely unconvinced of that at the moment. 

“Another independence referendum, if it went pro-independence - which by the way, at the moment I don't think it would - I fear it would be a rancorous, angry separation.

"It would be fantastic for Scottish journalism, it would be very good probably for Scottish law, Scottish politicians and Scottish culture. It would be very good for all those people.

"And it would be really rotten for people who are dependent on a state pension and ordinary working folk. And that would be a rotten deal.

READ MORE: Claims Boris Johnson discussed jobs for wife not denied by Downing Street

"You can't have an independence that's good for the people at the top and rotten for everybody else.”

The former BBC News political editor - who was educated in Scotland - did, however, say he would understand how a large portion of Scots feel about the UK Government and Brexit if he lived north of the Border.

He added: "I do get that people in Scotland are outraged. Nobody here voted for Boris Johnson or for Dominic Raab or Liz Truss, or that lot. You didn't vote for Brexit.

"So things have been imposed on Scotland and I can absolutely understand the annoyance."

In response, SNP Westminster deputy leader Kirsten Oswald said: “It really is quite sad to see a fellow Scot talk down his country in this manner.

"No matter what anti-independence voters say - or how far they try and run away from the debate - they simply cannot dodge reality.

"The people of Scotland have secured a cast-iron democratic mandate to decide their future and neither Boris Johnson, nor any other UK Prime Minister, has the right to block that mandate."