Ed Balls and his fellow British nationalists are being utterly ridiculous about this. Do they seriously imagine that they might force an experienced and adroit politician such as Salmond to compromise his negotiating position in advance of independence talks even starting? Dream on, kiddies!There is an element of diversion here, of course. British Labour and their Tory allies can be reasonably sure that the mainstream media will not press them on their positions in relation to issues such as currency. But it helps if there is a good anti-Salmond line to follow instead.Why, we might wonder, is the press indulging in this pointless hounding of the First Minister but totally ignoring the fact that Ed Balls is reported in the International Business Times as having explicitly ruled out any possibility of maintaining the currency union should Scotlands people vote Yes (Ed Balls Tells Alex Salmond: Scotland Must Vote No Independence to Keep Sterling). This represents a very significant policy statement. If the Shadow Chancellor has not been misrepresented by the media ( a distinct possibility, as we know) then he appears to be saying that it is now British Labour policy to abolish the currency union if Scotland chooses independence.Coincidentally, Johann Lamont gave a very broad hint as to this policy shift at FMQ on Thursday when she said that the currency union was over. Is it possible that her London bosses had kept her in the loop about this? That hardly seems credible. It is rather more likely that this was yet another Lamont gaffe which, on this occasion, just happened to coincide with reality.The language we are hearing from Ed Balls certainly suggests very strongly that British Labour is now committed to abolishing the currency union. Why is he not being grilled on the implications of a new policy which is both reckless and likely to be extremely unpopular with businesses and the public both north and south of the border?
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 11:30:20 +0000
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