As we go into the last week of the referendum campaign, the ‘’yes’’ campaign are still no nearer telling us what currency an independent Scotland will be using. ‘’Are you a one trick pony ?’’, Alex Salmond asked Alister Darling during their last ‘’debate’’, when Darling tried, once again, to get him to answer questions about an independent Scotland’s currency. Well it may be only one trick, but it is the trick that massively trumps all the rest. The economy is the heartbeat of a country and it needs to be underpinned by a stable currency. No stable currency, no stable economy, and the nation goes into meltdown…it’s a bit like a boats engine, I suppose, water in the fuel, the engine stops and all the parts of the boat, relying on the engine, the winches, net drum, pumps etc. stop working. ‘’If I have a mandate from the Scottish people to negotiate for a currency union, will you honour that mandate?’’ bellowed Salmond at Darling. ‘’Yes.’’ replied Darling, not once, but twice, but Salmond was in full bellow, yell over the top of people, mode, so he didn’t hear Darlings reply. However, on a phone-in, a few days later, on Radio Scotland, a fellow, who was not going to be bellowed down, raised this with Salmond. He asked Salmond, ’’If the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland vote that they do not want a currency union with an independent Scotland, will you accept their mandate ?’’ Four times he was asked and four times Salmond refused to reply. So it looks as if Scotland may have to use the pound, unilaterally. If this happens, then according to Mark Carney, Scotland will have to build up a massive reserve fund - billions of pounds - as back up for the economy/curreny/banks, in case of a banking/currency/economic crisis, as there will be no Bank of England to act as a lender of last resort. So where is this money to come from ? We have not been told, as Salmond and the SNP have made no plans for this and are sticking to their guns on a currency union, which isn’t going to happen. It was always Salmond’s plan to take Scotland into the Euro (’’the pound sterling is a millstone around Scotland‘s neck‘’). However the Euro crisis caught him with his trousers well and truly around his ankles, because the SNP had never made any other plans for a separate Scottish currency. The calls for a currency union is an act of pure desperation. If any proof is needed, look at it this way. Should Scotland gain independence, then Scotland would lose all representation at Westminster, 59 MP’s, 40 of which are Labour. The general election would almost certainly return to Westminster a Tory government. Mark Carney tells us that for a currency union to succeed, Scotland would have to give up a lot of its new found sovereignty and enter into what would be, in effect, a political union with Westminster. Salmond has spent a lot of this referendum whipping up a Tory hate fest, but now he wants to get into bed with them in a currency union ? Can this be true ? A left wing Scottish government in bed with a right wing UK government ? The phrase ‘’you really couldn’t make all this up, could you ?’’ springs to mind, but this is the path, in the event of a ‘’yes’’ vote, we may well have to travel.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 19:47:22 +0000
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