Salmond did win Monday nights debate. The following is not to be taken as gospel but it’s very difficult to challenge, feel free: Currency is the most important issue because it determines the strength of the economy, how wages are paid, how pensions are maintained, and how infrastructure is made. It is vital not just to business, but also the social services, the NHS, and the welfare state. Salmond has not addressed the currency issue in a meaningful manner. Granted, he may have provided an answer sufficient to get him out of a debate question by shouting, but in the cool, calm rooms of fiscal reality he has not. But before going further, it is not a question of whether Scotland CAN use the pound (queue howls from the Yes campaign) but rather HOW it can use the pound. These are not the same thing. If Scotland shadows the pound (ie: Plan B) then Scotland has no economic independence. Decisions that affect Scotlands economy will be taken in London. The key difference to now is Westminster would not have to listen to any concerned raised in Holyrood because it would not be within its mandate to do so. What kind of independence is it that has no control at all over its currency? This is also the problem with Currency Union (ie: Plan A). Salmond has argued that he will have the sovereign right of the Scottish people to demand Union. Other than utterly destroying independence again, this whole idea has already been written off as unworkable for the UK. Why should the UK enter Currency Union with a foreign country simply because they demand it? The UK government has the sovereign right of over 55m people to say No. For the same reason the UK has proven highly resistant to the Euro, it does not want to enter union with any external body. And even if by some strange subversion Salmond convinces the UK to enter Currency Union, it would have to be put to a referendum comprised of an English, Welsh, and Northern Irish electorate.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:09:55 +0000
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