Poll: Most Scots want to stay in UK and keep pound

A MAJORITY of Scots are against the SNP’s plan for an independent Scotland with the pound as its currency, according to a new poll released today by the Better Together campaign.

According to the YouGov poll, the majority of Scots do want to keep the pound - but as part of the UK.

Just 17 per cent said they backed keeping sterling as part of a currency union with the rest of the UK post-independence.

The most popular currency option, favoured by 56 per cent, is staying in the UK and keeping the pound.

One in ten said they would prefer a Scottish currency.

Better Together leader Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor, said currency was one of the most key aspects of the referendum debate. “One of the most important details is the currency we’ll use if Scotland were to become independent,” he said.

“The Nationalists at the moment are proposing a currency union. What is a currency union?

“Well it’s like the eurozone and you can see what’s going on there and all the difficulties you’ve had, of which Cyprus is just the latest example. But a currency union means that the two countries involved, Scotland and the rest of the UK, would have to agree everything. Scotland’s budget would have to be agreed by another country – that’s not independence.”