Think Tank: Independent Scotland needs own currency '˜on day one'

A prominent pro-independence think-tank has urged the SNP to get behind its new campaign for an independent Scotland to launch a new currency on day one of leaving the UK.

SNP s Growth Commission proposed the creation of a Scottish pound. Picture: John Devlin

Common Weal has hit out at plans by the SNP Growth Commission for an independent Scotland to use sterling for ten years after the country officially leaves the UK.

The Growth Commission report by former MSP Andrew Wilson recommended that a transition period would allow a new currency to be set up with less of an economic shock.

However, the National newspaper reported that the Common Weal are stepping up a campaign for a new currency to be launched much sooner.

A report from Common Weal launched in June says: “If Scotland does not launch its own currency, it will be beholden to rules made by the Bank of England without there being any obligation for those rules to take Scotland’s economic needs into account,” the report says.

It went on to add: “Scotland would also be reliant on London financial institutions loaning Scotland the money it needs to function. If and when another financial crisis affects London, an independent Scotland needs to be able to protect itself. Only by having its own currency can Scotland build the independent country that it wants to build.”

The think-tank, helmed by Robin McAlpine, says that the Growth Commission plans will lead to an independent Scotland using Sterling until at least the year 2039.

In the 2014 independence referendum, Alex Salmond was slammed for his plan for Scotland to use the pound in a currency union with the UK, something which the then-Government ruled out.