Scotland the rave

Published on 14/07/2012 00:00

SOME of the questions raised by Gavin McCrone (Perspective, 12 July) have already been answered by the SNP.

Finance minister John Swinney has already made it clear that the SNP wants a “full formal currency union” with the rest of the UK, if Scotland votes to be independent, which means that an “independent” Scotland would have absolutely no control over monetary policy.

The SNP’s assertion that a Scottish Government would have a member on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England has yet to be confirmed and in any case, the notion that a single Scottish member on the MPC would make any difference to that committee’s concern for the Scottish economy, is fanciful.

The other questions raised by McCrone – would a Scottish Government have any realistic control over its fiscal policy and would the Bank of England be prepared to act as lender of last resort – have also been covered by other commentators in recent weeks. I have argued that the current financial problems in the eurozone make it highly unlikely that the EU will look kindly on a Scottish Government aping the Irish, by reducing corporation tax to well below the levels in other member states.

The Bank of England is similarly unlikely to be prepared to act as lender of last resort, if there was any question of a Scottish Government following a fiscal policy with which it disapproved. Mr Swinney has already given an assurance that a SNP-led Scottish Government would give an assurance to the Bank that Scotland’s fiscal policy would be “appropriate”.

In its eagerness to allay any fears of instability that Scots may harbour, the SNP has planned an economic future in which Scots would have no control over monetary policy, would dance to the fiscal tune of the Bank of England and the EU and in reality, be independent in name only.

In other words, Scots would be placing their economic future in the hands of those who have made such a wonderful job of looking after it in the past. I am glad to see that Mr McCrone advocates the only sensible choice for Scotland: a Scottish currency, central bank and, control over our own economic destiny.

Jim Fairlie

Heathcote Road

Crieff, Perthshire