Meeting of the Parliament 27 November 2013
I did not realise that SNP members would be quite so true to form at every opportunity.
Let us imagine that that were true. We would then have an independent Scotland that relied on a foreign bank and foreign taxpayers for our currency and a foreign Parliament, from which we had withdrawn Scottish representation, would draw up the rules. [Interruption.] I do not know whether members have realised this but that independent Scotland would have its interest rates, tax policy, spending policy and borrowing limits set by a foreign country. It would be the greatest loss of sovereignty for Scotland since Edward invaded in 1296.
That is, of course, if we could cut a deal to keep the pound. Yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron said that such a deal was “highly unlikely”. [Interruption.] Well, I expect that he is entitled to his opinion in these negotiations. In saying that, he echoed the words of George Osborne, Ed Balls and of course Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, who equally has an interest in these matters.
Even if they agree to it, the likelihood is that the people in the rest of the United Kingdom would require a referendum to join a currency union, just as they would if they were to join the euro. Imagine Scotland’s future currency depending on a referendum in which no Scots would have a vote.
How would a politician persuade the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland that the Scots who had just left them should keep the pound, especially as the Scottish Government’s case for leaving is based on the view that the rest of the United Kingdom has held us back ever since the union was created? If they needed evidence of that view, they had only to listen to the First Minister’s speech. The idea that we would abuse the rest of the United Kingdom for doing us down and then go back to it saying, “Could you do us a favour and let us share our currency?” simply beggars belief.
We would also need people to agree to the lender of last resort, which would mean that, if a Scottish bank needed a bailout, English, Welsh and Northern Irish taxpayers would foot the bill. The Bank of England is funded by taxpayers, but because Scotland would not pay tax to the rest of the United Kingdom it would not pay a penny itself.
How can the First Minister think that anyone north or south of the border believes that that deal could be done? Even his former economic adviser John Kay says that a deal for a separate Scotland to keep the pound would be incredibly difficult to reach. He says that the whip hand would be with the rest of the United Kingdom. Professor Kay, whom the First Minister trusted to give him advice on the economy, says that the conditions that the rest of the UK would impose are likely to be too restrictive to be desirable.
Alex Salmond’s economic adviser says that there would need to be a plan B—a separate Scottish currency—but in the white paper we have a plan A that is not tempered with reality and no plan B at all.