Independence Debate


I heard someone on the radio yesterday ask what the Union Jack would look like without the St Andrews Cross and as I've already written about this very subject on the blog site I thought I'd oblige by re-publishing the relevant post.

So here it is - 'Scotland's Pound' from 9 August 2014

Scotland's Pound (9 August 2014)

The Union Jack minus the St Andrews Cross
The row over Scotland's Pound is getting a bit silly if you ask me, because there is no way that what remains of the UK should be allowed to have its cake and eat it, if the majority of Scots vote for independence on 18 September.

As I understand what's being said, the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem leaders are all adamant that if Scotland votes 'Yes', then what remains of the United Kingdom (rUK) believes it should hold on to the Bank of England while demanding that Scotland takes on its fair share of the UK's national debt.

Into the bargain the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems insist there will be no currency union with an independent Scotland and that the Scots will have to go their own way when it comes to the pound - because it's the rUK's pound not Scotland's pound.  

Now that doesn't sound too fair or reasonable to me and it's a bit like business partners agreeing to go their separate ways, with the bigger partner or shareholder saying that it wants to keep the business premises but that the outgoing partner should also agree to keep paying a sizeable slice of the mortgage.

Not only that, the outgoing partner is being told by that they can't use the existing trading name and that they have to come up with a completely new image and brand name, if they want to stay in business.    

The reason none of this makes sense is that if Scotland leaves the UK, then the UK itself has changed and becomes rUK, in the same way that the Union Jack is a very different flag, if you remove the St Andrews Cross.

So what's really going on here is a game of good old-fashioned party politics with a bit of brinkmanship thrown in for good measure and while I think an independent Scotland is liable for its share of the UK national debt, I don't believe we should allow ourselves to be pushed around and bullied.

In which case the Yes Scotland campaign should make it plain that whatever happens an independent Scotland will continue using the pound until agreement is reached on a wide range of issues including a currency union or not, as the case may be, as well as Scotland's share of the national debt.

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