Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Angry
As with every debate there are many takes.
"Scotland would not need permission to continue using the pound despite the Chancellor's view on the issue, and could continue with the currency in the same way countries like Panama and Ecuador use the US dollar, Sam Bowman from the Adam Smith Institute said today."
This will prove interestingwhatever the outcome .
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Of course that could happen. And the BBC and other news outlets have worded their reports accordingly.
What is under discussion here is what the SNP says it wants, which is a formal currency union, and what all of the people they would be negotiating with have said, which is that they will not agree to a formal currency union.
All currency options are not equal. The Euro idea was the SNP's favourite because they *knew* a Sterling zone would render their cherished independence from Westminster effectively meaningless from the moment they gained it. Sadly for them, the Euro has shown itself risky, precisely because it lacks many of the checks and balances the UK Treasury has said would be necessary for a Sterling zone to work. The SNP has since been talking up a Sterling zone because they're trying to make the best of a bad job and because they know the Scottish people won't want a newfangled currency in their pockets.
Pointing out that Scotland could continue to use Sterling without rUK's permission is to completely miss the point. To give them their due, the SNP aspires for Scotland's economy to operate on a far higher level than any of the international minnows that are frequently cited as examples of economies that use a substitute currency. Sterlingization of an independent Scottish economy would be disastrous. Why would any large business located in Scotland choose to remain there, in the knowledge that Scotland had no central bank and therefore no means of rescuing its own economy in the event of any serious financial difficulties arising? The SNP might as well hold the door open and invite any and all businesses who wish to, to up sticks and move south where there would still be a powerful, fully functioning central bank that has proven its ability to keep the money flowing no matter what.