THE SNP want to change the new Scotland Bill to give Holyrood the "right to move to full fiscal autonomy", Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Scotland's First Minister claimed that, while the Bill as currently drawn would extend the powers of the Scottish Parliament in a "reasonably limited way", an amendment her party has submitted at Westminster would extend that further.

The amendment put forward by the SNP would give Holyrood the power to remove Westminster's reservation on taxation policy, borrowing and public expenditure.

If passed, this would allow the Scottish Parliament to legislate to deliver full fiscal autonomy, the SNP said.

Nationalists also plan to put forward further amendments to the Bill, to give Scotland control over the minimum wage and make Holyrood responsible for all welfare decisions.

Ms Sturgeon was pressed on the policy when she addressed the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank in Washington DC.

The SNP leader said that - short of independence - she wanted Scotland to have "maximum fiscal powers within the United Kingdom context".

She added: "Why do we want that? Not for its own sake but the more powers we have, the more fiscal responsibility we have, the more ability we have to shape things like our system of social security, the more able we will be to grow our economy."