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The Blog That Reaches the Parts… 161
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Fred
14 Aug, 2014 – 3:08 pm
“Why is it only the SNP that have to answer the currency question?”
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“Because it is the SNP who are in power in Scotland and it is they who will be doing the deciding.”
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You still don’t get it Fred.
If the Yes vote wins there will be a general election; people will be free to vote for any party.
If the SNP don’t win that election it will be a Conservative, Labour or LibDem government that will decide; they should tell the Scots what their stance is.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
14 Aug, 2014 – 4:40 pm
“Mr Scorgie”
“Vox populi, vox dei.”
Not if they vote for Hamas though.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
14 Aug, 2014 – 4:44 pm
“As with several of the other Yessers on here, your comment is an indirect insult to the Scottish voters (whether intended or not)”
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The Scottish people are just as susceptible to propaganda as any other people. Also you forget, I’m Scottish myself.
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
14 Aug, 2014 – 4:51 pm
“…to solve, once and for all, the “West Lothian” question.”
A Yes win would solve that for you Habbabkuk.
“At the weekend I listened to a friend of mine who is normally fairly rational, and certainly not disposed to half-baked conspiracy theories, suggest that there is a warehouse full of pre-prepared fraudulent ballots which will be sent to the count centres in order to secure a vote for the status quo. What nonsense.”
“Postal voting is open to fraud on an “industrial scale” and is “unviable” in its current form, a top judge has said.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26520836
If anyone is capable of carrying out a large scale fraud it is the British state and given the virulent state opposition to Scottish independence, a postal vote fraud is not such a far-fetched idea.
If the lies, scare stories and propaganda from the state don’t look like they are working…
“You still don’t get it Fred.
If the Yes vote wins there will be a general election; people will be free to vote for any party. ”
Well yes, I do get it.
The next general election in Scotland will be held on 5th May 2016 regardless of who votes what at the referendum.
What made you think it wouldn’t?
Mr Scorgie
“Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
14 Aug, 2014 – 4:51 pm
“…to solve, once and for all, the “West Lothian” question.”
A Yes win would solve that for you Habbabkuk.”
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Yes I’m aware of that, Doug.
Perhaps you didn’t read my comment carefully enough:
“But I would suggest that, in the event of a No vote (especially if this is followed by further devolved powers for the Scottish Assembly), the opportunity is taken to solve, once and for all, the “West Lothian” question.”
Mr Scorgie
“The Scottish people are just as susceptible to propaganda as any other people. Also you forget, I’m Scottish myself.”
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No doubt. But what is the relevance of your second sentence?
“if Scotland goes independent and the Scottish Government fails to agree on a currency union with the independent country next door, how much will it cost to set up a Scottish financial services compensation scheme to protect people’s bank deposits at the level at which they will continue to be protected if Scotland stays in the UK (£85000)?
Note that having such a level of protection (€100,000 or equivalent) is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one, for EU membership.
Note further that independent countries cannot expect their citizens’ bank deposits to be guaranteed by foreign countries, even if the accounts are held in banks registered in those countries.”
– I personally have no idea of the cost, there will be costs involved in setting up all kinds of civil service bodies etc in an iScotland but this will create jobs in Scotland and increase employment and therefore tax revenue etc. – in the longer term these initial set-up costs more than pay for themselves. Scotland presumably already pays into the current UK FSA insurance scheme, so you could also consider that these insurance premiums would simply be diverted to an iScottish scheme following independence. Savings made elsewhere (not paying for useless nukes, illegal invasions of other countries, the House of Lords etc etc) can also be used to cover start-up costs.
– Your final point about an citizens of one country cannot expect a foreign country to guarantee their deposits even if held in a bank in that 2nd country – I cannot believe that is true at all. I currently have bank accounts in foreign countries and they are governed by the rules and regulations of that country, it makes no difference that I am not a citizen of that country. Even if your point were true however, this would be a larger problem for citizens of the rUK as I suspect many more of them hold deposits in banks registered in Scotland than do Scots in rUK banks (by dint of much greater population and the fact several major banks are Scottish) – so inevitably this is something both sides will have a common interest to reach agreement on in any independence negotiations.
“Second,
if an independent Scotland has its own currency, how much additional cost will the average Scottish family incur in changing currency, for example when buying rUK pounds when going south of the border to visit family, when buying goods from down south online, or when changing back unspent rUK pounds on coming home?
– again impossible to answer.. what is an average Scottish family? and how often, if ever, do they travel to the rest of the UK etc? Many Scots travel frequently to and/or work/do business in other countries with different currencies and deal with the costs attached to this. Any future Scots currency would likely be initially pegged to Sterling anyway so there would be no such costs. And of course, the current proposal is to use sterling after independence, either with or without a formal currency union.
And third,
is it, er, sensible, for Alex Salmond to threaten to renege on Scotland’s share of UK debt if the independent country next door does not agree to his demand for a currency union? Has he taken advice on what the response may be from international banks and rating agencies, and if so what advice did he receive?
Doh.. major formatting errors there and accidentally hit return before had finished.. apologies.. had not intended to bold my answers.. hopefully you can suss it out..
in answer to the third point – the UK govt has admitted it has full liability for all current UK debt as the debt was taken out by the UK govt, as such Scotland does not have any debt from a purely legal basis. The SNP have proposed to pay a population based share of the UK debt however, as part of their proposal to divide assets and liabilites between an indy Scotland and the rUK. Alic Sammins position is fairly simple – if the rUK refuse a share of the assets (currency, reserves, BoE etc via a formal currency union) then they cannot reasonably expect Scotland to take a share of the liabilities. International ratings agencies are on the record as having suggested an iScotland would have the very strongest credit rating, not surprising given a net-export economy. What would rUK’s credit rating be without Scotland and it’s oil and gas revenue’s (esp considering it’s enormous sovereign debt and continuing deficit)?? there’s a much more interesting question…
“International ratings agencies are on the record as having suggested an iScotland would have the very strongest credit rating, not surprising given a net-export economy.”
That isn’t exactly true. One agency, Standard and Poor’s, have said Scotland could initially have an AAA rating but that would probably change. Other agencies, like Moody’s, are less optimistic.