LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor George Osborne said on Sunday it would not be straightforward for an independent Scotland to keep the pound as its currency, as proposed by those campaigning for the country to break away from the United Kingdom next year. The nation of five million will hold an independence referendum on September 18, 2014, at the instigation of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which runs the country's devolved government.

Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest on Wednesday with military pageantry and pockets of protests, in a funeral that reflected the polarising impact of Britain's longest-serving post-war prime minister. Queen Elizabeth II led mourners from the British establishment and 170 countries in bidding farewell to the Iron Lady, who transformed Britain and is credited with helping end the Cold War. Tens of thousands of people gathered to watch the procession through London to St Paul's Cathedral and many broke into spontaneous applause and threw flowers as the coffin passed by.

Cheering and jeering mingled in the air as Margaret Thatcher's coffin passed through London on Wednesday -- a stark reminder that Britain is still as deeply divided over the Iron Lady as when she was in power. Tens of thousands of admirers lined the funeral procession route to pay their respects to the former British premier, applauding as her coffin travelled to St Paul's Cathedral on a horse-drawn gun carriage.

Cheering and jeering mingled in the air as Margaret Thatcher's coffin passed through London on Wednesday -- a stark reminder that Britain is still as deeply divided over the Iron Lady as when she was in power. Tens of thousands of admirers lined the funeral procession route to pay their respects to the former British premier, applauding as her coffin travelled to St Paul's Cathedral on a horse-drawn gun carriage.