A currency ‘con’

Jim Fairlie (Letters, 13 March) expresses his incredulity at the SNP’s currency “plan”. I made a similar point on these pages some weeks ago but Mr Fairlie states the case much more cogently and, given that he is a lifelong Nationalist, surely he deserves a response.

Why would an Alex Salmond-led SNP give up full control of the fiscal and economic levers in order to have a currency union? Finance secretary John Swinney’s “response” is in the usual evasive style. He won’t yield control.

Not only will the SNP force rUK to have a currency union but it will dictate the terms as well. This sounds all too similar to the bluster that it will sail into the EU on the terms enjoyed by the UK.

Mr Fairlie is perhaps too reticent to express what I believe is the real answer. This is a bluff – or, more accurately, a con. Mr Salmond knows that if he told the voters they would not have the pound but the euro or a new currency his chances of success in the referendum would be nil.

Mr Fairlie is not the only significant supporter of ditching the pound. Jim Sillars, Patrick Harvie and Denis Canavan, to name a few, have the honesty to put what they believe in to the test. Why won’t the SNP do the same?

Colin Hamilton

Braid Hills Avenue

Edinburgh