Latest News About England: Scottish independence: if the Scots go it alone, they can't expect a safety net

sábado, 22 de febrero de 2014

Scottish independence: if the Scots go it alone, they can't expect a safety net | the big issue

Why should the rest of the UK underwrite Scotland if it votes yes?

I agree with Kevin McKenna ("Memo to George: England's bullying of Scots will drive us into the Yes camp", Comment) that George Osborne's statement rejecting a currency union is likely to alienate Scots further. But this has more to do with his manner and choice of language than with the substance of what he said. We Scots should be under no illusion that there will be any chance whatsoever that the rest of the UK will agree to share a currency with an independent Scotland.

McKenna asks with incredulity: "Does he [George Osborne] think English company bosses will accept the millions of pounds that tariffs would entail?" Assuming Scotland remains in the EU, there will be no tariffs. What there will be is currency conversion transaction costs – the same costs English company bosses have had to thole, that is, bear, by not being part of the eurozone.

Half of the rest of the UK's trade is with the eurozone, while something less than 10% is with Scotland.

The question that should be asked with incredulity is – do Kevin McKenna or Alex Salmond really believe that the rest of the UK will agree effectively to underwrite the sovereign debt of a foreign country, in order to avoid these transaction costs on 10% of its trade?

Richard Sloan

Dundee

Kevin McKenna avoids addressing, as do Salmond and the SNP, the core arguments concerning a currency union. That is, in brief, for such a union to work it would also require a fiscal and banking union and, most importantly, political union. This has been conclusively demonstrated by the eurozone crisis.

I hold no brief for the execrable Osborne and his party but he is certainly justified, as are the Lib-Dem and Labour party leaders, in pointing out the inherent weaknesses, not to say contradictions, in Salmond's project. As it is, the rest of the UK is essentially being asked to underwrite Scotland's independence, potentially much more damaging to the UK economy than the comparatively minor transaction costs that McKenna mentions (again, rather slavishly echoing Salmond).

Ian Grant Seton

New Malden

Surrey

It seems to have passed Kevin McKenna by that all three major political parties (yes, including the main representative of those trade union households whose shared values Kevin rightly holds so dear) are not prepared to underwrite a Scottish bailout in the more than theoretical possibility that Scotland is unable to pay its way in the not too distant future. Working-class solidarity is one thing but a wholesale charity bailout is quite another.

There are many who already think that Scotland gets a pretty good deal out of the Barnett formula. A median-income, middle-aged Geordie may well look across the border with some envy when obliged to fund his children's university education and his parents' care home fees while paying for his own prescriptions. It is pie in the sky to expect any regional devolvement that would deliver the same advantages to those parts of England currently enjoyed north of the border, as McKenna seems to think. If Scotland really wants to ride the high wire alone, let it do so without the safety net.

Guthrie McGruer

Cherhill

Wilts

Why does Kevin McKenna express his sympathy for the potential plight of the 400,000 or so expat English living in Scotland, but take no account of the equally significant number of expat Scots living in the UK? At least the Scottish-based English will be able to vote in the referendum. We Scots now living in England are being denied that privilege. Salmond's wish to lead Scotland into darkness will affect us no less if granted, and I strongly believe our voice should be heard. There's still time to set the necessary machinery in place if the will is there.

Gordon Robbie

Ashwellthorpe

Norfolk